A Boeing 767-332(ER) from Delta Air Lines takes off from Barcelona El Prat Airport in Barcelona on Oct. 8, 2024.
Joan Valls | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Delta Air Lines reinstated its 2025 profit outlook Thursday and said it expects a stronger summer travel season than Wall Street anticipated.
Bookings have stabilized after a drop in demand earlier this year, CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview, though at lower levels than the airline forecast at the start of the 2025.
Delta shares rose 11%. Shares in other airlines, which report results later this month, also rose after Delta’s report.
Delta expects adjusted full-year earnings of $5.25 to $6.25 a share, down from a forecast in January of more than $7.35 a share, when Bastian predicted 2025 would be the carrier’s best year ever.
In April, Delta said it couldn’t reaffirm that forecast as on-again, off-again tariffs and hesitant consumers dented bookings. Rival U.S. carriers also pulled their guidance, and Delta and other airlines have announced plans to cut flights after the summer peak. Bastian said the passage of the tax and spending bill and the Trump administration rolling out more trade deals with “less rhetoric and more action” are giving customers more clarity and confidence.
“People are still traveling,” Bastian said. “What they’ve done is they’ve shifted their booking patterns a little bit. They’re holding off making plans until they’re a little closer in to their travel dates. And so that’s shifted some of our bookings and yield management strategies.”
That includes trimming capacity outside of top travel periods, as well as what Bastian described as “surgical” cuts after the peak summer travel season ends around mid-August.
Here’s how the company performed in the three months ended June 30, compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on consensus estimates from LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $2.10 adjusted vs. $2.05 expected
- Revenue: $15.51 billion adjusted vs. $15.48 billion expected
Delta, the first of the U.S. airlines to report results for the three months ended June 30, expects adjusted earnings per share of between $1.25 and $1.75 in the third quarter, compared with Wall Street analysts’ forecast for $1.31 a share. It also said it expects revenue that’s flat to up 4%, topping forecasts for a 1.4% sales increase.
Delta posted strong growth from sales of higher-priced seats like first class and from its lucrative American Express partnership, which increased 10% in the second quarter from the same period last year to $2 billion. Airlines have become more reliant on travelers who are willing to spend more to fly rather than more price-sensitive consumers.
Corporate travel has also stabilized as Bastian said businesses have more clarity and confidence than they did earlier this year, but it’s in line with last year, not the 5% to 10% growth Delta expected at the start of the year.
While fares have dropped across the U.S., Delta’s premium-product revenue rose 5%, as sales from the main cabin fell 5% from last year. Its total revenue per seat mile, a measure of how much an airline is bringing in for the amount it flies, fell 4% in the second quarter.
Bastian said Delta is prepared to continue updating its premium products.
“Whether it’s the Delta lounges or the quality of the product on board, the premium products have had life cycles … and what we thought was state of the art six or seven years ago no longer is,” he said. “We’re continuing to upgrade and update it.”
Delta has been working for years to tamp down overcrowding and long lines at Delta’s popular airport Sky Clubs by building larger lounges and spaces dedicated to its top-tier Delta One cabin travelers, as well as with visit limits and other policies.
Delta’s president, Glen Hauenstein, said the airline expects to have “almost all” of the crowding problems resolved in the next 18 to 24 months, though he noted that one challenge is that bad weather like thunderstorms that can spark hourslong delays.
“You can’t build a club big enough for lengthy delays,” he said on an earnings call with analysts. “So I think we’re trying to look at alternatives that we can use as overflow in those instances.”
Hauenstein reiterated that more customers are choosing to take European vacations after the traditional peak summer months to avoid heat waves, crowds and high hotel rates.
In the second quarter, Delta posted adjusted revenue of nearly $15.51 billion, up 1% from a year ago. Its net income in the three months ended June 30 totaled $2.13 billion, or $3.27 a share, up 63% on the year. That compares with net income of $1.3 billion, or $2.01 a share, in the same period last year. Adjusting for one-time items, its per-share net income was $1.37 billion, or $2.10 a share.
