Corporacion America (NYSE:CAAP) released first-quarter financial results and hosted an earnings call on Wednesday. Read the complete transcript below.
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View the webcast at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/311785257
Summary
Corporacion America reported strong financial performance in Q1 2026, with a 7% increase in passenger traffic and a 19% rise in total revenues, driven by international travel growth, particularly in Argentina.
The company achieved a 26% increase in adjusted EBITDA with margin expansion, supported by strong contributions from Argentina, Armenia, and Brazil, while maintaining a strong balance sheet and reducing net debt.
Strategic highlights include a 35-year concession extension in Armenia with a new investment program, ongoing engagements in Iraq and Angola, and potential introduction of a dividend policy due to strong cash flow and financial flexibility.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Good morning and welcome to Corporacion America Airports first quarter 2026 conference call. A slide presentation accompanies today’s webcast and is available in the Investor section of the company’s website. As a reminder, all participants are in listen only mode. There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. At this time I would like to turn the call over to Patricio Iñaki Esnola, Head of Investor Relations. Patricio, please go ahead.
Patricio Iñaki Esnola
Thank you. Good morning everyone and thank you for joining us today. Speaking during today’s call will be Martina Ornequiano, our Chief Executive Officer and Jorge Arruda, our Chief Financial Officer. Before we proceed, I would like to make the following safe harbor statement. Today’s call will contain forward looking statements and I refer you to the Forward Looking Statements SECtion of our earnings release and recent filings with the SEC. We assume no obligation to update or revise any forward looking statements to reflect new or changed events or circumstances. Please note that throughout this call, all references to revenues, cost, adjusted EBITDA and margin will refer to figures excluding IFRIC 12. Also, all comparisons discussed are year over year unless otherwise noted. I will now turn the call over to our CEO Martina Ornequianoo.
Martina Ornequiano
Thank you Inaki and good morning to everyone joining us today. We started 2026 with a strong first quarter performance across the business. We saw solid traffic growth, continued revenue momentum, strong profitability and further strengthening of our balance sheet. Passenger traffic increased 7% year over year supported by positive trends across all our countries of operation. International traffic remained the main driver of growth with particularly strong performance in Argentina with additional routes, higher frequencies and solid summer demand continue to support the recovery in international travel. Revenue performance was particularly encouraging with top line growth well ahead of passenger traffic. This was supported by healthy growth in international passengers and our ability to continue increasing revenue per passenger in our commercial activities. Profitability showed strong progress in the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA increased at the faster pace on traffic and margins expanded as higher revenues from flow through the cost base. Evidencing our disciplined management Argentina and Armenia were the largest contributors to EBITDA growth while other countries also posted positive year over year performance. We closed the quarter with a strong balance sheet. Leverage declined further providing significant flexibility to invest in our operations, pursue disciplined growth opportunities and consider the implementation of a dividend policy. Finally, it is important to highlight the resilience of Armenia. Despite the regional geopolitical situation, the business continued to perform well supported by increased connectivity and the lower than anticipated impact from the Middle East conflict. Overall this was a strong start of the year and reinforces the resilience of our portfolio and the benefits of our diversified platform. Moving on to passenger Traffic on slide 4, we posted a strong performance across our operations with nearly 22 million passengers traveling across our airports. Growth was mainly driven by international travel, which increased nearly 14% with positive contributions from every country in the portfolio and double digit growth in Argentina, Italy and Ecuador. Domestic traffic was broadly stable in the quarter. Growth in Brazil and Ecuador offset software domestic volumes in Argentina and Italy, where performance was affected by capacity constraints, operational disruptions and In Argentina, the 24 hour nationwide strike in February. Looking at the main markets in Argentina, passenger traffic increased close to 6% year over year. International traffic growth remained very strong, up 19%, driven by traffic with Brazil and the Caribbean and solid demand during the Summer and Carnival periods. Domestic traffic was slightly lower, mainly reflecting temporary free constraints at some of the airlines, together with a one day nationwide labor strike in February that disrupted operations. Even with these headwinds, key leisure destinations such as Bariloche, Cordoba, Iguazu and Mendoza performed well during the quarter. In Italy, traffic grew just over 7% driven by international passengers, which accounted for close to 80% of total traffic and increased more than 10% year over year. Both Florence and Pisa contributed to this performance. Domestic traffic was modestly lower, mainly due to reduced activity at Florence, while adverse weather in January also led to some cancellations and diversions. In Brazil, Traffic increased by 12%, reflecting a better environment after the constraints seen in the aviation sector in prior periods. Domestic traffic grew by nearly 6%, transit passengers increased by more than 20% and international traffic also contributed positively. Brasilia continued to benefit from its geographic location and large infrastructure, allowing it to maintain its role as an important domestic hub in the country. Passenger traffic in Uruguay increased by nearly 4%, supported by the summer season and additional frequencies. Both new and resumed routes connecting Montevideo and Punta del Este with destinations in Brazil and Argentina, including services from Gol, Gol Linhas, Argentinas and Azul, helped support demand during the quarter. In Armenia, Traffic was up 8.5%, supported by expanded airline activity, additional routes and higher frequencies. The new East Air Base at Yerevan, launched in late 2025, continue to support connectivity with Europe. March was affected by regional disruptions related …
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