March quarter 2017 GAAP pre-tax income of $915 million, net income of $603 million and earnings per diluted share of $0.82
· March quarter 2017 adjusted pre-tax income1 of $847 million, adjusted net income of $560 million and adjusted earnings per diluted share of$0.77
· Delta returned $349 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases
Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today reported financial results for the March quarter 2017. Highlights of those results, including both GAAP and adjusted metrics, are below and incorporated here.
Adjusted pre-tax income for the March 2017 quarter was $847 million, a $713 million decrease from the March 2016 quarter, primarily driven by higher fuelprices.
“Despite fuel price pressures, the Delta people once again delivered solid results across the board, with double digit operating margins, strong improvements in customer satisfaction, and progress on our international expansion with the closing of our Aeroméxico transaction,” said Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executiveofficer. “Producing these results in our toughest quarter of the year shows not only how far we’ve come, but also that we have more opportunity in front of us tocontinue building a better airline for our employees, customers, and owners.”
April Storm Impact
Last week, severe weather in Atlanta caused significant disruptions to Delta’s operations. The company cancelled approximately 4,000 flights as a result of theweather and the subsequent operational recovery. The company returned to normal operations on Sunday afternoon and had a 100% mainline completion factoryesterday. Delta currently estimates the storm will reduce its June quarter pre-tax income by $125 million.
“We hold ourselves to a high standard and we apologize to all of our customers who were impacted by last week’s events,” continued Bastian. “I also want tothank the Delta people for working through some incredibly tough conditions to take care of our customers and reset our operation. They proved again they arethe best in the business.”
Revenue Environment
Delta’s operating revenue for the March quarter was down $103 million versus prior year, including $20 million of lower year over year currency hedge gains.Passenger unit revenues declined 0.5 percent on
0.5 percent lower capacity.
“March marked the first month of positive passenger unit revenues since November 2015 and we are encouraged by the current fare and demand trends across the network. We expect June quarter passenger unit revenues to increase one to three percent and remain positive throughout the year,” said Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s President. “However, we will keep our full year capacity growth capped at one percent to support this unit revenue momentum and the company’s return to marginexpansion.”
