Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
3K characters. Original on sec.gov · Markdown
Item 3. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Hedging and Aircraft Fuel Risk
Changes in fuel prices could materially affect the Company’s results of operations. As discussed in Note 3 to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, the Company discontinued its fuel hedging program in
- During second quarter 2025, the Company terminated its remaining portfolio of fuel hedging contracts, which were scheduled to settle through 2027, to effectively close its fuel hedging portfolio and program. Consequently, the Company is fully exposed to fluctuations in fuel prices, as is common in the airline industry. The Company currently expects to consume approximately 555 million gallons of jet fuel in the second quarter of 2026. Based on this anticipated usage, a change in jet fuel prices of one-cent per gallon would impact the Company’s Aircraft fuel and related taxes expense by $5.6 million for second quarter 2026.
As of March 31, 2026, the Company had no cash collateral provided to or held from derivative counterparties and thus had no cash collateral exposure. See Note 3 to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements.
Financial Market Risk
The Company currently has agreements with organizations that process credit card transactions arising from purchases of air travel tickets by its Customers utilizing American Express, Discover, and MasterCard/VISA. Credit card processors have financial risk associated with tickets purchased for air travel because the processor generally forwards the cash related to the purchase to the Company soon after the purchase is completed, but the air travel generally occurs after that time; therefore, the processor will have liability if the Company does not ultimately provide the air travel. Under these processing agreements, and based on specified conditions, increasing amounts of cash reserves could be required to be posted with the counterparty. There was no cash reserved for this purpose as of March 31, 2026.
A majority of the Company’s sales transactions are processed by Chase Paymentech. Should Customer chargebacks processed by Chase Paymentech reach a certain level, cash proceeds from advance ticket sales could be held back and used to establish a reserve account to cover such chargebacks and any other Customer-disputed charges that might occur. Additionally, cash reserves are required to be established if the Company’s credit rating falls to specified levels below investment grade. Cash reserve requirements are based on the Company’s public debt rating and a corresponding percentage of the Company’s Air traffic liability. As of March 31, 2026, no cash holdbacks were in place.
See Item 7A "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, for further information about market risk, and Note 3 to the unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements in this Form 10-Q for further information about the Company's derivative instruments.
Previous: Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations · Next: Item 4. Controls and Procedures