Air Canada ($AC)

Good morning, shareholders and guests. My name is Van Sorensen. I am the Chair of Board of Directors of Canada. Welcome to our Annual Meeting of Shareholders Canada's commitment to indigenous inclusion and reconciliation. Our network crosses many treaty lands as well as unseated and traditional territories of indigenous nations and governments on Turtle Island, that is North America. In that spirit, we recognize the ancestral and traditional lands of the indigenous people we fly over. In 2025, Air Canada was honored to support the return of 62 sacred and cultural indigenous artifacts from the Vaden. We carried them back on one of our aircraft. We're meeting today only a few weeks after the tragic accident at LaGuardia Airport involving Air Canada Express flight AC8646. On behalf of the Board of Directors. I would like to express our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the Jazz pilots who tragically launched their lives. I also want to express our sincere sympathies to the passengers, crew members and others who are injured or otherwise affected as well as our appreciation to everyone in our company, industry or otherwise, who helped at the time and in the days that followed. This tragedy has been felt by all of our Air Canada family. I invite you if you are able to stand and observe a moment of silence. We're pleased for the first time since 2013 to be back here in Vancouver home to about 7,000 employees and 1 of our primary hubs. We want to thank Telus for having graciously opened TELUS Garden for us to host our meeting in this remarkable space and are grateful to the tellers team who have supported us in doing so. Today, our meeting includes shareholders from across Canada and around the world. We're glad you're joining us wherever you may be. Thank you for taking part in our annual dialogue.

We believe in engagement with our shareholders, including at this meeting. I'm pleased to confirm that over 35% of our shares are represented here, which exceeds our quorum requirement.

The meeting having been duly given and quorum being present, I call our 2026 Annual Shareholder Meeting to order. I've adopted an agenda to govern the order of business. and general rules of conduct for the meeting, which you can find in the document tab of your webcast screen. Voting is now open for all items to be voted on today. and will close shortly after the last item has been discussed. This means we'll not pause the meeting to collect ballots as we progress through our agenda together. This will allow everyone more time to vote if they have not already done so. I'm joined on the podium on my immediate left by Mark Babeau, our Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, who will act as the Secretary of this meeting. also joined by Michael Russo, our President and Chief Executive Officer; and on the far left, John Di Bert, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. [interpreted] The other Board members as well as representatives of our independent auditor, price Waterhouseoopers, and many of our executives are also present in person or online. Before my opening remarks, I would like to ask Marc to remind us of some of the cautionary statements about the information and how to participate in our meeting. Mark?

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and hello to all shareholders. This meeting will take place in English and in French, participants can intervene in either of these languages and proceedings are being translated simultaneously. If you are joining us online, you may choose the channel of your choice so including a direct floor channel, if you prefer that option.

To the meeting today could contain forward-looking statements about our prospects, objectives and strategies I refer you to the cautionary statements concerning forward-looking information found in our public record, which is available on aircanada.com or SEDAR+. The record also includes an explanation of the non-GAAP measures we sometimes use as well as a reconciliation with the most directly comparable GAAP measure. As we note in those filings, aircraft fuel prices continue to be subject to high volatility as a result of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. [Foriegn Language] People can take the floor at any time. If you are in the room here the room. If you do that, please give us your name and indicate your status. You can also participate through the messaging tab on your webcast screen. We ask that you reserve your comments and questions on topics that may be of interest to all shareholders rather than of a personal nature. Mr. Chairman, I would like to turn the floor back over to you for the rest of our meeting.

Following my opening remarks, we'll turn to the proposals in our information circular. Then, Mike will share some remarks about our 2025 financial year, followed by a Q&A session. This year marks an important moment of transition for Air Canada and for our Board. In March, we announced that our President and Chief Executive Officer, Mike Russo will retire by the end of the third quarter of 2026. Mike has served Air Canada for nearly 2 decades, including as CEO or CFO, Deputy CEO and President and CEO, guiding the company through significant periods of challenge and transformation. Under his leadership, Air Canada strengthened its financial position, navigated the pandemic advanced customer-centric initiatives and captured opportunities such as the acquisition of Aeroplan and restoring the solvency of our pension plans. On behalf of the Board, I sincerely thank Mike for his dedicated service and extraordinary contributions to Air Canada. The Board is also grateful for his continued leadership and support as the Board completes the process of selecting our new CEO. Succession planning has been a long-standing priority to the Board. Consistent with this and related specifically to CEO succession, we have a comprehensive internal executive development program that's been away for over 2 years. Earlier this year, we completed that program with an external global search. Our CEO role specification includes having proven airline experience, a track record of setting enterprise strategy and for delivering results at scale. The Board's performance criteria also includes the ability to communicate to Canadians in both official languages. All these criteria are important and will not compromise on any of them. I confirm that our next CEO will have the capacity to speak friend. This has progressed significantly and we have a strong group of internal and external candidates. In order to preserve the integrity of our selection process, we'll not provide further details until an official announcement is made. This year, we're also making the -- marking the retirement of Mr. Gary Doer from the Board of Directors. Gary has brought strategic insight and meaningful perspective to the Board since his nomination. On behalf of the Board, I sincerely thank Gary for his dedicated service and contributions to Air Canada and its shareholders during his tenure as Director. Transition moments such as these underscore our focus on renewals. This morning, you are being asked to elect 2 new directors. Ms. Rachel Notley, the former Premier of Alberta and Mr. Eric Lafleche, President and CEO of Metro. We trust that their backgrounds and experience will contribute to Air Canada's progress in meeting its ambitions. Every Board member nominee received from shareholders in the run-up to today's meeting. Together, all our Board nominees bring remarkable accumulated experience, expertise and background helping to advance Canada's priorities in a changing world. And indeed, in 2025, Air Canada adapted to a changing environment and delivered solid financial results capped by an exceptional fourth quarter despite significant headwinds. Throughout this unsettled period, the company made progress on its long-range plan and on capital allocation and other priorities we know our shareholders care about. Notably, since 2024, our over 64 million shares have been repurchased, returning more than $1.5 billion to investors. We're pleased with Air Canada's strong start in 2026, including its delivery of record first quarter operating revenues. In 2026, our Board and executive leadership will continue to work closely to execute on Air Canada's strategic plan with safety first always remaining our overarching priority. and customer centricity guiding our actions. At the same time, we'll continue to act on sustainability and to remain committed to excellence, innovation, profitable and sustainable growth and disciplined capital allocation. We're immensely proud of being Canada's flag carrier. We want to share the best of Canada at home and abroad inclusive culture where everyone belongs and proudly promoting our official languages. We are very grateful to our customers and for their loyalty and to you, our shareholders, for your trust and investment in Air Canada. How our leadership team and our over 39,000 employees have stayed true to the long-standing values and priorities that have guided us through challenging times. In closing, I want to express our thanks as a Board to all Air Canada's employees around the world for their professionalism, resilience and unwavering commitment to safety and service. Our annual meeting has been streamlined to allow as much time as possible for our remarks and our Q&A session. I also ask those of you planning to speak or raise a question, to please keep your comments brief. A couple of minutes should be sufficient to make your point. And unless your questions or remarks relate to a specific item of business under consideration, I ask that you hold it until the question period. Mark will now speak to certain formalities. and the matters to be voted on. Mark? Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As mentioned, voting is now open for all items on the agenda submitted for the vote today. If you have already voted, there's nothing more that you need to do unless you want to change your vote. You will find the instructions to such effect in the documents Tavor joining us online. At any time, if you need assistance, you can speak to an attendant. And if you are here in person, you can speak to an attendant or you can reach out to us by e-mail, as indicated in the documents tab on your screen if you are online. Thank you for having confirmed our status as a Canadian or non-Canadian. This has allowed me to confirm that no adjustment to the variable voting rights will be necessary today. We ask shareholders send us their questions through the messaging tab on their screen. We plan to respond during the question period indicated on the agenda. This said, if you have any questions or comments that should be dealt with before the question period, please let us know clearly in advance and in a timely manner. In any case and in every case, once again, please use the messaging tablet escreen. If you are present in person, please go to the microphone in the middle of the room. in-person voting will all -- for all of the scheduled matters of business, it will be by ballot. There will be a preliminary formal scrutineers' report tabled later, Representatives of TSX Trust Company are here with us here today and have accepted our meeting Chairman's invitation to act as scrutineers. We thank you -- thank them for their assistance.

The next item on the agenda is to submit Air Canada's financial statements for 2025 to the shareholders, which has been done. Our financial statements were published in February 2026 and may also be consulted in the documents tab on your screen. Mr. Chairman, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mark. this item on the agenda, either for us or for our auditor, so we'll move to the next items on the agenda. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 5 management proposals will be presented here today. All the proposals are described in the management proxy circular regarding our meeting. Based on the votes counted before the meeting was called to order and the number of votes that could cast during the meeting. We know that all the resolutions submitted to a vote today will be approved by the necessary majority. In order to simplify our meeting proceedings, we have ensured that each of the proposals was moved or seconded in advance as the case may be by our colleagues from Air Canada, we thank them for participating in the meeting. The first item on -- put to a vote is the election of Directors. The nomination of the following 13 people was duly moved and recommended by the Board of Directors. Amit Chande, Chris Clark, Rob Fyfe, Michael Green, Jean Marc, Eric Lafleche, Cloet McGowan, Pichelli, Marlena, Michael Rosol, Van Sorensen, Kathleen Taylor, Net Veresen. No other person was nominated for election as a director. Mr. Chairman, the floor is yours. Comments from our shareholders. I encourage you to vote by using the online platform or by filling your ballots as the case may be. We'll proceed with the remaining business of the meeting and the attendants will collect the ballots only once all votes are completed. Mark, would you move to the second item on the agenda.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The Board of Directors also recommends voting for the appointment of our auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers until the end of the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders. Mr. Chairman, the floor is once again yours.

Using the voting tab on your webcast screen or by filling your ballot as the case may be. Again, for those of you here in person, please keep your ballot until all votes are completed. Mark, would you move to the third item on the agenda, please?

The Board also recommends that you vote in favor of the next proposal that it be resolved that on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the Board, the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in our management proxy circular provided in advance of today's meeting. Mr. Chairman, the floor is once again yours.

Vote is advisory and nonbinding, the Board takes it into account and consult shareholders to understand their views and ensure our executive compensation policies support Air Canada's long-term goals and shareholder value creation. To this end, we met with shareholders who in 2025, represented most of the shares voted against our approach to executive compensation and have benefited from their insights. We'll continue this practice this year. Seeing no questions or comments. I encourage you to vote by using the voting tab on your webcast screen or by filling your ballot as the case may be. Again, for those of you here in person, please keep your ballot until all of the votes are completed. Mark, would you move to the fourth item on the agenda.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The next item of business pertains to the adoption of our ordinary solution improving an increase of the number of shares reserved and authorized for issuance under the long-term incentive plan of Air Canada. Mr. Chairman, the floor is yours once again.

Yes. The Board of Directors has determined it would be appropriate to increase the share reserve to provide an effective means to utilize incentive awards in future years. We're proposing to do so by replenishing the reserve by 6 million shares as described in our management proxy circular. Seeing no questions or comments, I encourage you to vote by using your webcast screen, voting tab or by filling your ballot as the case may be. Mark, would you move to the fifth item on the agenda.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The next item of business pertains to the adoption of an ordinary resolution regarding the ratification of Air Canada's shareholders' rights plan adopted by the Board of Directors on March 21, 2023. The rights plan will continue to be effective until 2029. If this ratification is approved to buy a majority of the votes cast by shareholders at the meeting. Mr. Chairman, the floor is yours once again.

Questions or comments, I encourage you to vote by using the webcast screen, voting tab or by filling your ballot as the case may be. Mark, would you move to the last item on the agenda.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. As described in our circular, Air Canada, received 2 proposals from the Momondo Duketon to Devani, which appears in its Schedule B. Following our discussion with MEDAC and in particular, regarding our intention to hold an advisory vote on executive compensation at this meeting and provide disclosure in the circular regarding the results of a 2025 vote MEDAC agreed to withdraw 1 of its 2 proposals, which will not be subjected to vote to this meeting. Air Canada agreed to reproduce the withdrawn proposal and it's a circular and to give MEDAC an opportunity to speak about it at our meeting. We will return later to the withdrawn proposal. The MEDAC proposal entitled Increasing Participation in Annual General Meetings, particularly among small shareholders will be submitted to a vote. The floor is yours, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Mark. I would now ask MEDAC's representative, Mr. Huli Gagnon to present their proposal on shareholder participation, which is reproduced as proposal number one, to Schedule B of our proxy circular. Mr. Daniel, you have the floor.

Hello, Mr. Chairman. Can hear you me clearly. name is Willie Gagnon. And as usual, I represent MEDAC Move on educate defenses Anera. And it's been the case for many years. MEDAC executive for now over 30 years. As you have said, we have sent 2 proposals and 1 will be submitted to a vote. to strengthen shareholder participation in AGMs. The reason why we have sent this proposal to all companies with the shareholders is because last year, there was a quorum default system. And Air Canada has already thought about purchasing more shares. And this was a worrisome. So we have noticed with -- and you'll see this in the graphic that we have submitted produced by Rodridge that the participation rate of shareholders has decreased unlike the participation elsewhere, this is quite worrisome. So the company need to implement certain measures. The measures that we have asked for are already in place. measures 1 to 3. Now measure 4 is similar to the 1 that is with our proposal. You will see in the chart that if the shareholder increases -- participation increases or decreases, the company has refused. The information that is in this graph is available, but it's very complicated to understand. So it would be more simple for the company to produce such a graph. And if it had done so, we would not be in the situation, so whatever the results may be, we will continue to hope that the company produces this information, it would not be very expensive, and it would give important information to shareholders to see if they need to do more to maintain the participation rate. So we see that 35% of our shareholders are represented here today. And this is the quorum of what is quorum. This is the information that we'd like to know. So we would invite all shareholders to support this proposal. And the other 1 that will not be subjected to a vote? Well, the reason why we sent it is because based on the preceding year, we have seen that we want companies to explain themselves. We expect that the advisory vote to be conducted and that it be supported. And when it's underneath the certain threshold, we would hope that the companies to give us the information every year. So given that Air Canada has accepted to give us this information this year, we expect not to have it voted on. And we hope not to have to send a proposal like this again. This is why we have accepted to withdraw this from a vote. Mr. Chairman, thank you very much. Thank you for the time.

Thank you, Mr. Gagnon. Increasing our shareholder participation is an important objective for us, and we will continue to pursue this. However, for the reasons outlined in our proxy circular, the Board recommended that shareholders vote against proposal number one.

Seeing no further questions or comments. I encourage you to vote in respect of shareholder proposal #1 by using the webcast screen voting tab or by filling your ballot as the case may be. Given that this proposal is the last voting item on our agenda, I also encourage you to cast your votes now on this or any other prior proposal as we prepare to close the ballots shortly. For those of you who are here in person, I now ask that when your ballot is complete, you please hand it to the nearest attendant. Mike to share his annual remarks, I remind shareholders and proxy holders that they may submit their questions or comments to us at any time before the end of the question period. For those attending the meeting online, if they have not done so, they must vote or change their votes within the next minute since the voting function will be deactivated shortly, putting an end to voting on the items on the agenda. For those attending the meeting in person, are there any more ballots to be collected. I believe everyone has now had time to complete and return their ballots. I will now ask the scrutineers to tabulate all the ballots and report back. We'll now pause the formal proceedings of our meeting to allow our CEO, Mike Russo to share his annual remarks.

Thank you for taking time to be with us today for Air Canada's 2026 Annual General Meeting. I'm very pleased to be joined in the room by some members of our senior executive team. For those of you attending in person, I encourage you to say hello to our executives. they love talking about all the great things Air Canada is doing. We, as always, are interested also to hear what's on your mind and your suggestions for ways that we can improve. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge the tragic incident involving Air Canada Express light AC-8646 at LaGuardia Airport in March. I visited the scene, the day of the accident. It was a humbling and powerful illustration of the importance of safety in what we do every day. On behalf of everyone at Air Canada, I extend condolences to the family and friends of crew loss in the accident. Best wishes for the recovery of those injured and our deep regard for all involved. I can assure you that we will learn from what we can from this incident and apply any lessons to making travel even safer. Air Canada delivered a strong performance in 2025. And the results show the effectiveness of our business plan and the strength of our business model, we have built since the end of the pandemic. In 2025, we generated record operating revenue of nearly $22.4 billion, an increase of $117 million from 2024. A particular note, premium revenues increased 2% year-over-year, outpacing the economy cabin by 3 points and representing about 30% of our total passenger revenues. But we also saw increased contributions from all segments of the business, including Aeroplan, Air Canada Cargo and Air Canada Vacations. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $3.1 billion due to the very strong demand in the last 2 months of the year. We delivered $747 million in free cash flow. And we ended the year with total liquidity of $7.5 billion for a net leverage of 1.7x. Clearly, our results would have been much stronger, except for the labor disruption in the third quarter. However, we quickly rebounded with a very strong record fourth quarter to end the year. And yesterday, we reported another record quarter to begin this year. Fourth quarter revenues reached $5.8 billion, up 7% year-over-year. These were driven by industry-leading passenger unit revenue performance and strong premium demand. Our Q4 adjusted EBITDA of $867 million in the quarter was 25% higher than the prior year, a record for our company for Q4. We also just announced a record Q1 2026 EBITDA performance. In the quarter, our revenue increased 11% versus Q1 of 2025. Our adjusted EBITDA in the first 3 months increased more than 60% and free cash flow almost doubled to $1.6 billion. I believe 2 consecutive record quarters reflect the underlying strength of our plan. and business model, and all stakeholders should be extremely excited as we move into the growth part of our strategic plan. Throughout 2025, we showed financial discipline, keeping a high conversion from earnings to the operating cash flow. This enabled us to invest confidently in our future, deploying $2.9 billion in capital investments. expected to generate incremental returns going forward. Another outcome of our excellent performance was during the year, we returned more than $850 million to shareholders through share repurchases. We know this is especially important to you, and we will continue to search for ways to create and return value to investors. An underlying factor critical to our success is running an efficient airline. Operationally, 2025 was another year of improvement that showed the dedication and professionalism of all our teams. Our focus was on all aspects of operational improvement, led by our on-time performance and Net Promoter Score. to strengthen the overall dependability of our schedule and our premium brand positioning. In 2025, we operated more than 370,000 flights, carried over 45 million customers. and achieved an average load factor close to 85%. We finished 2025 with an average arrivals of 14 or on-time performance of 73%. This is a 2-point improvement from 2024 and a 10-point improvement from 2023. Our Net Promoter Score for the year was above our target and up a healthy 7 points from the prior year. I was extremely proud of our employees when our customers recognize their hard work. In 2025, Air Canada was voted by customers the best airline in North America. at the Skytrax World Airline Awards at the Paris Air Show. We won in 9 categories of these -- at these awards, which are globally recognized as the industry benchmark. Skytrax also ranked Air Canada as the only North American carrier among its global top 20 airlines. And we were further recognized at Apex, the Passenger Experience Awards for the sixth consecutive year with a pasture rate at 5-star Global Airline Award. I thank all our employees for their hard work and their dedication. Another indicator of our success with customers is the growth of our Aeroplan loyalty program. Aeroplan passed the 10 million member milestone in 2025. has now more than doubled its membership since the program we launched. Fueled by a younger, more engaged demographic Aeroplan is attracting members and partners, not normally associated with traditional airline loyalty programs. Aeroplan is a significant competitive advantage and an indicator that customers plan to continue booking with us far into the future. An important aspect of customer service is the aircraft we operate and invest in as well as associated services with offer on board. Fleet renewal is an ongoing project, and we have plans to acquire 70 new aircraft with options to purchase another 40. This includes 35 aircraft in 2026 and 2 new aircraft types for our fleet. With the new aircraft, we are also introducing the next-generation cabin interiors. Last month, we unveiled the new long-haul cabin design, our glowing hearted standard. It features new seats. upgraded IFE systems and warm accents inspired by the textures and materials that invoke Canada's natural environment. We are especially excited about having the Airbus 321 XLR join the fleet. Despite having a narrow body type being a narrow-body aircraft, its long-range capability will let fly rooms, we normally have to operate with larger planes. This gives us options for extending service to seasonal markets off peak, and it will be effective in opening up new markets where we need to build traffic. Because it is capable of long transatlantic flights, we are equipping the XLR with live flat Air Canada Signore suites. This is the first time we will offer live flat seats on a narrow-body aircraft. which is certain to be popular with the important premium traveler segment of our market. In a further evolution of our fleet, we are also transitioning our 737 MAX fleet to Air Canada Rouge. By replacing the older rouge fleet, we will elevate the Air Canada leisure travel experience. For example, we will introduce seat-back entertainment and fast free WiFi for Aeroplan members. It will improve the consistency and quality of the roots product for the benefit of our leisure customers and the entire Air Canada brand. And finally, earlier this year, we announced our plans to acquire 8 Airbus 350, 1,000 wide-body aircraft to support our international network growth with rights to purchase another 8. The first delivery of the state-of-the-art aircraft is expected in 2030. To further distinguish the customer journey, we are also working to improve the airport experience. This begins with a new approach to customer service that we have launched with our frontline employees called Care and Class that encourages them to assist customers better on the spot in the moment. Our program for this new approach on a well-deserved award last year, the customer centricity Rural Series Awards. Coupled with this, we are deploying new processes, the new technology to improve important parts of the customer journey such as baggage tracking and delivery, aircraft boarding and lounge access. In terms of lounges, I hope those of you in Vancouver have already experienced our new Air Canada Cafe opened last month at Vancouver's domestic C Concourse. This is our second cafe at the airport. that offers an expanded 84 seat premium space, inspired by West Coast design and culinary culture. We also just opened a new 62 seat Air Canada Cafe in Montreal Crude's U.S. departure peer. that showcases the city's iconic coffee culture and local flavors. These investments form part of Air Canada's program to modernize its global lounge network. with many more -- further openings and renovations planned for the future. Taken together, all these initiatives are converging to drive forward our New Frontier strategic plan. The plan clearly sets out Air Canada's objectives and outlines his ambitions through 2030. A distinctive element of New Frontiers will be the expansion of our network. As events of recent years have shown our varied network and revenue sources play a critical role in delivering strong results despite shifting market conditions. This includes the earlier disruption to our Pacific flying due to the Russian overflight issue, events impacting the transborder market and more recently, the situation in the Middle East. Our diverse fleet and network allows us to mitigate disruptions in particular markets by quickly reallocating capacity to other markets. Recognizing these advantages, we are building scale in our hubs and reinforcing our competitiveness of our global network. In 2025, we added 13 new destinations on 4 continents. This includes Vancouver. In 2022, we began the only nonstop place to Bangkok, and they are becoming year round this summer. We started our service to Manila. And for this winter, we will operate the only nonstop flight linking North America to Pearl in Japan from the city. These exciting route additions represent our commitment to Vancouver, our Pacific Gateway. In support of this, we've also established a Rouge crew base at Vancouver, which will give travelers going to and from the city and BC additional leisure options. And a significant investment for our employees in the city, we will soon begin operating our expanded simulator training center. Back East, our hubs in Toronto and Montreal have the best geographical placement to connect Europe with Latin America. In the last quarter of 2025, we bolstered our competitiveness to better capture the counter seasonal flows between those markets and grow our demand base outside Canada. Our strategy is also to diversify our 6 Freedom revenues, which increased by 10% in 2025 versus 2024 to reach record levels. In Q1 of 2026, we further increased Sixth Freedom by 18% versus Q1 2025. In support of all this, we just started transporter flying from Billy Bishop Airport in downtown Toronto to major business centers in North America, reflecting our commitment to making business travel easier for our customers. For this summer, we will add several European routes to our network. And along with the Bangkok servers from Vancouver, we introduced non nonstop flights to China from Toronto. For next winter, we've already announced the addition of the Pearl and Quito to our passenger network and last month, we announced new flights from Toronto and Montreal to Tenerife the only nonstop service between North America and the Canary Islands. And there are also several new sun destinations coming. But more than just provide a geography lesson. New Frontiers is targeting approximately $30 billion in revenue by 2028. Equally, if not important, more important, we intend to increase our adjusted EBITDA margin and free cash flow through the same period. Against this backdrop, 2026 will be an important year, managing several complex external factors as well as taking delivery of the majority of our new aircraft in the back half of this year. We are confident our investments are setting the stage for improved performance and greater efficiencies in 2027 and beyond. We are building for the long term. And I'm convinced the decisions we're making today will continue to strengthen the airline for years to come. It has been a great privilege and honor for me to lead Air Canada. I think our Board members both current and past with their support, their guidance and encouragement over the years. The trust we have enjoyed since the pandemic is a result of a tremendous team effort. Our recent Q4 2025 and Q1 2026, record performances and effectively dealing with a volatile fuel price and potential supply environment is just the latest example of how good this team is. I also wish to thank all of my colleagues at the airline. One of the great rewards of working at Air Canada is the opportunity to meet and work with so many incredibly talented people at all different positions here at Air Canada. I was just at the awards of excellence event last week, which recognizes our best employees as voted on by their peers and colleagues. Another group I wish to acknowledge as our shareholders. I have met with and heard from all of you over the years. I do believe that you will be rewarded as we execute new frontiers. Your decision to invest in our company is a very clear expression of your confidence in all of us at Air Canada. And I can assure you of our deep commitment to repay this trust. And finally, I want to thank our customers. It is our objective and our entire focus to earn our loyalty every day. by flying everyone in comfort and safety to their destination, wherever in the world that may be. Thank you.

Thank you, Mike. Mercy. At this time, received a preliminary report from our scrutineers. I will ask Mark to share the results from the tabulation completed after all proposals were presented and voting closed.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. based on the number of final votes that have been cast and the scrutineers of preliminary tabulation, we confirm that the 13 nominees for election as directors were elected their term of office. So we'll end at the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders or until his or her successor is duly elected or appointed the shareholders also approved the appointment of our independent auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the advisory vote on the Board's approach to executive compensation, the increase in the total number of shares reserved and authorized for issuance under the LTIP and the ratification of Air Canada as a shareholders' rights plan. Finally, shareholders that did not approve the shareholder proposal relating to participation in annual general meetings. The final voting results will be filed on SEDAR + after the meeting. Mr. Chairman, the floor is yours once again.

Thank you, Mark, and thank you to all our shareholders for their votes and continued support. I'm especially thrilled to officially welcome Rachel and Eric to our Board. We look forward to the insights you will bring as we continue to discuss Air Canada's future.

Rachel Eric, welcome. We look forward to working with you. I'm pleased to now welcome the Q&A portion of the meeting.

For the questions that you submitted in advance of the meeting, will start by answering 1 of those. Jeanine. those who'd like to ask a question, please come to the mic. and to confirm their status. If you are online, you can ask a question -- with the messages a tab on your web. Our comments as possible can be addressed. I would ask that questions remain concise ideally not exceeding a couple of minutes. Please limit yourself to 1 question or comment at a time, allowing others to take that turn. If your question has already been asked by someone else, I'd kindly ask that you refrain from repeating it. We ask that you reserve your comments and questions to topics that may be of interest to all shareholders rather than other personal nature. Mark will now read the first question submitted in advance.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question we received in advance reads as follows: -- could you clarify how the Board is weighing core leadership competencies such as safety, performance, strategic aptitude and the ability to drive shareholder and employee value relative to language requirements in the CEO selection process. Given that the pool of candidates with top-tier aviation leadership experience may be limited, how do we balance the importance of bilingualism with the need to secure the strongest possible candidate to lead Air Canada effectively.

Thank you for the question. As I stated in my opening remarks, succession planning has been a long-standing priority of the Board and our CEO role specification includes having proven airline experience a track record of setting enterprise strategy and for delivering results at scale. The Board's performance criteria also include the ability to communicate to Canadians in both official languages. All these criteria are important, and will not compromise on any of them. We will now take a question from the floor, if any. If not the case, Mark, can you please read the next question.

The next question we received in advance reads as follows: how do you explain the stagnant stock price compared to Delta or United, Air Canada's share price is drastically low. given the high debt, cost pressures and geopolitical issues, what measures are you taking to derive a healthy balance sheet reduction in costs, which ultimately drives higher share price.

I'll take that question. So first of all, thank you for the question. I PAUSE I think that hearing Mike, we should all have a lot of positive confidence in what's going forward in terms of our plan at Air Canada. We've taken significant steps to improve the balance sheet over the last few years. We came out of the pandemic with 5x leverage. And over the last 2 to 3 years, we've been able to take that down to 1.4x leverage. So the balance sheet is very, very strong. our liquidity actually and our leverage, our peer benchmarks in the industry. And the strength of that balance sheet is allowing us to make very important investments in the future. I think Mike outlined the New Frontier plan, but we also did speak about it at our most recent Investor Day in December 2024. The plan that we put forward creates significant value for shareholders. It allows for margins to expand and create sustainable cash flows for the very long term. We continue to take very important steps in improving our capital allocation. So beyond the investments in the airline. We've decreased debt. As I said, we've also bought back over $1.5 billion in stock in the last 15 months, and that has been to the benefit of shareholders. And we'll also allow them to participate in future profitability and growth as the airline continues its plan. And finally, we did announce yesterday that we do have an August 2026 maturity of USD 1.2 billion. And with the strength of our balance sheet and liquidity, we will be able to take that liquidity out and effectively extinguish the debt. So I do have a lot of great confidence in the future of Air Canada, and we're confident that it will create a lot of value for shareholders.

Thank you, John. We'll now take a question from the floor, if any. PAUSE -- if not the case, Mark, can you please read the next question? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Navon in Kestone question for -- from Mr. Daniel that I'm going to read. Other, the fact that MEDAC has asked and received the language is mastered by those involved in the company. We have always wanted for the Board to assume its responsibility on this issue. We believe that the criteria of language is part of the mandatory points for the next CEO. So the next CEO will have to master the 2 official countries and land, which is rather of the country. And if somebody does not master 1 of these 2 languages, how will you deal with that?

Thank you, Mr. Daniel, for your question. I'd like to refer you to the comments from the CEO on the recruitment process for the next CEO, the criteria. that are associated with the next CEO. And I'll come back to what he said that he confirmed that our next CEO will have the ability to express themselves in French. The process is evolving. There are some internal and external candidates that are quite strong. And I'd like to remind you that the Chair mentioned that there will be no other comments on the recruitment process until the announcement is made. Thank you, Mr. Daniel. Thank you for your interest and for your question.

Thank you. My name is Rod Home. I am an independent beneficial shareholder. I have attended many of these meetings in the past, and my impetus for attending this meeting was to be able to express my thanks to Mike Russo for his leadership over many years, and I've mentioned to him earlier that I met him 1 of his first meetings. And also to -- just to express my own personal, I was so worried about how the tragedy in New York was handled. And I wanted to illustrate that by a very close relative who had worked at Air Canada and had apparently been keeping in touch with many of his colleagues said that their network lit up, and it was such a tragedy because in all the years that they had worked together, nothing like that had happened. So when you mentioned when we asked for a moment of silence, all the other people who have been affected, it's probably a lot more than most people would have deemed to realize given the number of people who have worked with the airline. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Cohen, for these remarks. Really, really great remarks and much appreciated. Thank you so much. Are there any other questions from the floor, please?

Good morning. Paul Froud, independent shareholder. I'm wondering with I can opening up the second application window yesterday. Does Air Canada have any intention of applying for its own new gTLD or any others.

Sorry, could you repeat the question?

Yes. I can the people who run the Internet. Yesterday, they opened up the second application window for new top level domains. I'm wondering, will Air Canada be applying for its TLD.

The quick answer is no, but I'll introduce to Mark Nasr and to Craig Landry, Craig oversees technology for the company, and Mark oversees operations. and they can provide some more details to you when the meeting is over.

Well, might I suggest you speak to PwC about it because they registered this back in 2012.

Perfect. Thank you very much for that -- thank you thank you. Are there any other questions from the floor?. It's not the case. There is another question that came in. So can you please read the last or the next question.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So the third question we received in advance was for labor relations, have you concluded the arbitration process with QP, -- if so, what was the result?

I'll ask Mike to take that question, please, Mike.

Thank you for the question. Thank you, in -- so the quick answer is we do have a new 4-year agreement with CP. We signed a -- and to provide a little more detail, we signed a tentative agreement on August 19, 2025. One item went to arbitration around wages. The federal arbitrator issued their decision on February 17, 2026. And the arbitrator upheld that wages as agreed to in the tentative agreement would continue throughout the 4-year contract with the exception that wage rates for Rouge flight attendants would be increased by 1% in the first year. So again, we do have a solid 4-year agreement with our flight attendants going forward.

Mike, are there any other questions? Are there any other questions from the floor? No Seeing no further questions. In the meeting room or online, the discussion of matters for shareholder consideration is completed as we reconvene the formal part of our meeting. Mark, do we have any other questions that have been raised or not yet dealt with no, Mr. Chairman, there are no other questions that we have not yet responded to. Thank you all for joining today's meeting and for your questions. We are thrilled to continue to discuss with you, and we are looking forward to having conversations with you over the course of the year. 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders has concluded. I now declare the end of our 2026 Meeting of Shareholders. Thank you, and please enjoy the rest of your day.