United makes provisional cash payments to Air Wisconsin during each month of service based on projected flight schedules. These provisional cash payments are subsequently reconciled with United based on actual completed flight activity. As of the date of this filing, these payments are reconciled through February 2021. As of September 30, 2021, United owed Air Wisconsin
$4,050, which is recorded in accounts receivable, net, on the unaudited consolidated balance sheets.
Under the United capacity purchase agreement, Air Wisconsin is also eligible to receive incentive payments, or
required to pay penalties, upon the achievement of, or failure to achieve, certain performance criteria. The incentives are defined in the agreement and performance is measured on a monthly basis. At the end of each month during the term of the agreement, Air Wisconsin calculates the incentives achieved, or penalties payable, during that period and recognizes revenue accordingly, subject to the variable constraint guidance under Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) Accounting Standards Update (ASU) No. 606,
Revenue from Contracts with Customers
(Topic 606).
Although the final reconciliations have not been completed for all periods, after considering operational performance related to expected incentive and penalty payments, Air Wisconsin is likely to incur and/or receive amounts of
$(339) and $2,820 for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, respectively, under the United capacity purchase agreement.
As discussed above, Air Wisconsin is paid a fixed amount per aircraft per day for each month during the term of the United capacity purchase agreement. In accordance with GAAP, the Company recognizes revenue related to the fixed payments on a proportional basis taking into account the number of flights actually completed in that period relative to the number of flights expected to be completed in subsequent periods during the remaining term of the United capacity purchase agreement. Air Wisconsin deferred fixed revenues between April 2020 and June 2021 due to the significant decrease in its completed flights as a result of the
COVID-19
pandemic. Beginning in the three months ended September 30, 2021, due to an increase in completed flights during the quarter and based on projected future completed flight activity, Air Wisconsin began reversing this deferral of fixed revenues, and it anticipates continuing to do so through February 2023, the end of the contract period. Accordingly, during the three months ended September 30, 2021, Air Wisconsin recognized $5,298 of fixed revenues that was previously deferred, compared to a deferral of $15,422 of fixed revenues in the three months ended September 30, 2020. For the nine months ended September 30, 2021, Air Wisconsin deferred the recognition of $10,054 of fixed revenues, compared to $37,906 of deferred fixed revenues for the nine months ended September 30, 2020. Air Wisconsin’s deferred revenues related to the fixed portion of revenue under the United capacity purchase agreement will adjust over the remaining contract term based on the number of flights completed in each reporting period relative to the number of flights anticipated to be completed over the remaining contract term. The current portion of deferred fixed
revenues,
in the amount of $34,492, is recorded as part of contract liabilities, and the long-term portion of deferred fixed revenues
,
in the amount of $18,782
,
is recorded as deferred revenues on the consolidated balance sheets.
Consistent with the analysis above, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, as compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, Air Wisconsin also recognized increased
non-refundable
upfront fee revenues and increased fulfillment costs, both of which are amortized over the remaining term of the United capacity purchase agreement in proportion to the number of flights actually completed in that period relative to the number of flights expected to be completed in subsequent periods. During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, Air Wisconsin recorded $1,082 and $2,428 of revenue from upfront fees and $116 and $260 of fulfillment costs, respectively, compared to $496 and $1,701 in revenue from upfront fees and $53 and $182 of fulfillment costs for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020, respectively. The current portion of the deferred upfront fee revenue, in the amount of $4,759, is recorded as part of contract liabilities, and the long-term portion of the deferred upfront fee revenue, in the amount of $2,127, is recorded as long-term contract liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.
As part of the October 2020 amendment to the United capacity purchase agreement described below (CPA Amendment), United accrued a liability to Air Wisconsin in the amount of $11,048 along with a cash settlement of $670, of which $4,411 was deferred as of December 31, 2020, with the remaining portion to be recognized in proportion to the number of flights expected to be completed in subsequent periods. For the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021, Air Wisconsin recorded $512 and $1,150, respectively, of revenue related to these items, compared to 0 revenue related to these items for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020. The current portion of the deferred CPA Amendment revenue, in the amount of $2,254, is recorded as part of contract liabilities, and the long-term portion of the deferred CPA Amendment revenue, in the amount of $1,007, is recorded as long-term contract liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.
The timing of the recognition of deferred fixed revenues,
non-refundable
upfront fee revenue, fulfillment costs, and deferred CPA Amendment revenue in future periods is subject to considerable uncertainty due to a number of factors, including the actual number of completed flights in any particular period relative to the estimated number of flights anticipated to be flown at the beginning of the same period.
The amount of revenues recognized for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 that were previously recorded as contract liabilities were $6,892 and $8,875, respectively.
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