Delta reports a $735 million quarterly profit as demand helps offset rising costs.
Summary
Delta Air Lines reported a quarterly profit of $735 million on Wednesday as robust demand during the start of the busy summer travel season helped the carrier overcome rising costs, with little signs of a near-term slowdown. “With sustained strength in bookings, we expect September quarter revenue to be up 1 to 5 percent compared to 2019,” Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s president, said in a statement. The strength of the travel recovery has helped airlines overcome fast-rising costs and a long pandemic slump, but it has also challenged the industry, which has struggled to contain operational disruptions. Investments in improving operations and limited capacity helped to drive a 22 percent increase in nonfuel costs for Delta in the quarter that ended in June, compared with the same period in 2019, the airline said. Still, trans-Atlantic and Latin American routes brought in more revenue in June than they did in the same month in 2019, while flights across the Pacific continued to lag.