Commitments and Contingencies

6 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2023

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Contrail Put/Call Option

Contrail entered into an Operating Agreement (the “Contrail Operating Agreement”) in connection with the acquisition of Contrail providing for the governance of and the terms of membership interests in Contrail and including put and call options with the Seller to require Contrail to purchase all of the Seller’s equity membership interests in Contrail commencing on the fifth anniversary of the acquisition, which occurred on July 18, 2021. The Company has presented this redeemable non-controlling interest in Contrail ("Contrail RNCI") between the liabilities and equity sections of the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. In addition, the Company has elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying amount of the instrument to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. The Contrail RNCI is a Level 3 fair value measurement that is valued at $7.7 million as of September 30, 2023. The change in the redemption value compared to March 31, 2023 is a decrease of $0.3 million, which was driven by the decrease in fair value of $0.6 million and distributions to non-controlling interest of $0.2 million, partially offset by net income attributable to non-controlling interest of $0.5 million. As of the date of this filing, neither the Seller nor the Company has indicated an intent to exercise the put and call options. If either side were to exercise the option, the Company anticipates that the price would approximate the fair value of the Contrail RNCI, as determined on the transaction date. The Company currently expects that it would fund any required payment from cash provided by operations.

Contrail Asset Management, LLC and CJVII, LLC

On May 5, 2021, the Company formed an aircraft asset management business called Contrail Asset Management, LLC ("CAM"), and an aircraft capital joint venture called Contrail JV II LLC ("CJVII"). The new venture focus on acquiring commercial aircraft and jet engines for leasing, trading and disassembly. The joint venture, CJVII, was formed as a series LLC ("CJVII Series"). It consists of several individual series that target investments in current generation narrow-body aircraft and engines, building on Contrail’s origination and asset management expertise. CAM was formed to serve two separate and distinct functions: 1) to direct the sourcing, acquisition and management of aircraft assets owned by CJVII Series as governed by the Management Agreement between CJVII and CAM ("Asset Management Function"), and 2) to directly invest into CJVII Series alongside other institutional investment partners ("Investment Function").

CAM has two classes of equity interests: 1) common interests and 2) investor interests. Neither interest votes as the entity is operated by a Board of Directors. The common interests of CAM relate to its Asset Management Function. The investor interests of CAM relate to the Company’s and Mill Road Capital’s (“MRC”) investments through CAM into CJVII (the Investment Function) and ultimately into the individual CJVII Series. With regard to CAM’s common interests, the Company currently owns 90% of the economic common interests in CAM, and MRC owns the remaining 10%. MRC invested $1.0 million directly into CAM in exchange for 10% of the common interests. For the Asset Management Function, CAM receives origination fees, management fees, consignment fees (where applicable) and a carried interest from the direct investors into each CJVII Series. Such fee income and carried interest will be distributed to the Company and MRC in proportion to their respective common interests.

For its Investment Function, CAM's initial commitment to CJVII was approximately $51.0 million. The Company and MRC have commitments to CAM in the respective amounts of $7.0 million and $44.0 million. These represent the investor interests of CAM, separate and distinct from the common interests. Any investment returns on CAM’s investor interests are shared pro-rata between the Company and MRC for each individual investment at the CJVII Series. As of March 31, 2023, Air T has fulfilled its Investment Function initial commitment to CAM.

Per its Operating Agreement, CAM is comprised of only two Series: the Onshore and the Offshore Series. Participation in each is determined solely based on whether a potential investment at the CJVII Series is a domestic (Onshore) or international (Offshore) investment. As of September 30, 2023, for its Investment Function, the Company has contributed $1.0 million to CAM’s Onshore Series and $6.9 million to CAM’s Offshore Series.

The Company determined that CAM is a variable interest entity and that the Company is not the primary beneficiary. This is primarily the result of the Company's conclusion that it does not control CAM’s Board of Directors, which has the power to direct the activities that most significantly impact the economic performance of CAM. Accordingly, the Company does not consolidate CAM and has determined to account for this investment using equity method accounting. As of September 30, 2023, the Company's net investment basis in CAM is $4.5 million.

In connection with the formation of CAM, MRC has a fixed price put option of $1.0 million to sell its common equity in CAM to the Company at each of the first three (3) anniversary dates. At the later of (a) five (5) years after execution of the agreement and (b) distributions to MRC per the waterfall equal to their capital contributions, Air T has a call option and MRC has a put option on the MRC common interests in CAM. If either party exercises the option, the exercise price will be fair market value if Air T pays in cash at closing or 112.5% of fair market value if Air T opts to pay in three (3) equal annual installments after exercise. With respect to the secondary put and call option, as it is priced at fair value, the Company also determined that there is no potential loss or gain upon exercise that would need to be recognized.

Shanwick Put/Call Option

In February 2022, in connection with the Company's acquisition of GdW, a consolidated subsidiary of Shanwick, the Company entered into a shareholder agreement with the 30.0% non-controlling interest owners of Shanwick, providing for the governance of and the terms of membership interests in Shanwick. The shareholder agreement includes the Shanwick Put/Call Option with regard to the 30.0% non-controlling interest. The non-controlling interest holders are the executive management of the underlying business. The Shanwick Put/Call Option grants the Company an option to purchase the 30.0% interest at the call option price that equals to the average EBIT over the 3 Financial Years prior to the exercise of the Call Option multiplied by 8. In addition, the Shanwick Put/Call Option also grants the non-controlling interest owners an option to require the Company to purchase from them their respective ownership interests at the Put Option price, that is equal to the average EBIT over the 3 Financial Years prior to the exercise of the Put Option multiplied by 7.5. The Call Option and the Put Option may be exercised at any time from the fifth anniversary of the shareholder agreement and then only at the end of each fiscal year of Air T ("Shanwick RNCI").

The Company has presented this redeemable non-controlling interest in Shanwick between the liabilities and equity sections of the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets. In addition, the Company has elected to recognize changes in the redemption value immediately as they occur and adjust the carrying amount of the instrument to equal the estimated redemption value at the end of each reporting period. As the Shanwick RNCI will be redeemed at established multiples of EBIT, it is considered redeemable at other than fair value. Changes in its estimated redemption value are recorded on our consolidated statements of operations within non-controlling interests. The Shanwick RNCI's estimated redemption value is $4.6 million as of September 30, 2023, which was comprised of the following (in thousands):


	Shanwick RNCI
Beginning Balance as of April 1, 2023	$	4,738
Contribution from non-controlling members	—
Distribution to non-controlling members	(166)
Net income attributable to non-controlling interests	182
Redemption value adjustments	(116)
Ending Balance as of September 30, 2023	$	4,638

2020 Omnibus Stock and Incentive Plan

On December 29, 2020, the Company’s Board of Directors unanimously approved the Omnibus Stock and Incentive Plan (the "Plan"), which was subsequently approved by the Company's stockholders at the August 18, 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The total number of shares authorized under the Plan is 420,000. Among other instruments, the Plan permits the Company to grant stock option awards. As of September 30, 2023, options to purchase up to 260,670 shares are outstanding under the Plan. Vesting of options is based on the grantee meeting specified service conditions. Furthermore, the number of vested options that a grantee is able to exercise, if any, is based on the Company’s stock price as of the vesting dates specified in the respective option grant agreements. For the three and six months ended September 30, 2023, total compensation cost recognized under the Plan was $0.1 million and $0.2 million, respectively.