Impairment of Long-Lived Assets

Impairment of long-lived assets primarily includes impairment charges on restaurant level assets resulting from (1) the deterioration in operating performance of certain restaurants, (2) additional charges for capital improvements in restaurants impaired in prior years which did not subsequently recover and (3) the closure of company-owned restaurants and classifying such properties as held for sale. Additionally, in 2014 we recorded impairment on long-lived assets of $3,365 as a result of the determination that the assets will be leased and/or subleased to franchisees in connection with the sale of restaurants which were not included in our system optimization initiative.

During 2013, the Company decided to sell its company-owned aircraft and recorded an impairment charge of $5,327 to reflect the aircraft at fair value based on current market values. The aircraft were sold during 2014 resulting in a net loss of $261.

During 2012, we closed 15 company-owned restaurants in connection with our review of certain underperforming locations, which resulted in an impairment charge of $3,270. In addition, we incurred costs related to these restaurant closings of $1,477, primarily for continuing lease obligations, which are included in “Other operating expense, net.” In addition, during the first quarter of 2012, we recorded an impairment charge of $1,628 to reflect a company-owned aircraft at fair value as a result of classifying the aircraft as held for sale. During the second quarter of 2012, the Company decided to lease the aircraft and as a result reclassified the aircraft to held and used.

These impairment losses, as detailed in the following table, represented the excess of the carrying amount over the fair value of the affected assets and are included in “Impairment of long-lived assets.”



	Year Ended
	2014		2013		2012
Properties and intangible assets	$	10,985	$	10,552	$	19,469
Aircraft	—		5,327		1,628
	$	10,985	$	15,879	$	21,097