Delta Air Lines Posts September 2024 Results

DALLAS – Delta Air Lines (DL) today announced its September quarter 2024 GAAP financial results. Highlights include:

• Operating revenue of US$15.7 billion
• Operating income of US$1.4 billion with an operating margin of 8.9 percent
• Pre-tax income of US$1.6 billion with a pre-tax margin of 10.0 percent
• Earnings per share of US$1.97
• Operating cash flow of US$1.3 billion
• Payments on debt and finance lease obligations of US$263 million
• Total debt and finance lease obligations of US$17.7 billion at quarter-end

“Thanks to the exceptional work of the entire Delta team, we continue to lead the industry operationally and financially, with a double-digit operating margin and nearly US$3 billion of free cash flow generation year-to-date. In recognition of the outstanding efforts of our employees this year, we have accrued almost $1 billion of profit sharing towards the upcoming February payout," said Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executive officer.

Impact of the CrowdStrike-Caused Outage

Of particular note, the airline outlined the financial impact of the CrowdStrike outage on August 8, which knocked many of DL’s systems offline. 

The incident's direct revenue impact was approximately US$380 million, primarily driven by refunding customers for canceled flights and providing customer compensation in cash and SkyMiles. The impact of the non-fuel expense was US$170 million, primarily due to customer expense reimbursements and crew-related costs. 

Fuel expense was $50 million lower than it would have been as a result of the 7,000 flight cancellations over the five-day period. Operating margin fell by 2.3 points, and earnings per share declined by US$0.45. 

Other Highlights

Other operational and fleet highlights include

• Operated as the most on-time airline year-to-date
• Took delivery of 27 aircraft year-to-date and nine in the September quarter, including the A321neo, A330-900 and A350-900
• Announced its Transatlantic summer schedule for 2025, offering over 700 weekly flights to 33 destinations, including seven new routes
• Signed codeshare agreements with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) and Saudia Airlines
• Announced first-ever nonstop service from SLC – ICN
• Introduced five new routes from Austin (AUS) beginning in March 2025
• Announced five new routes, including two new destinations to Mexico this winter

Q4 Outlook

"Through the September quarter, unit revenue growth improved sequentially in all geographic entities, reflecting an improved equilibrium between demand and supply as industry growth moderated," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's president.

"For the December quarter, we expect the improved trends to continue and bookings for the holiday period are strong. We anticipate a 1-point impact to total unit revenue from reduced travel demand around the election. With this, total revenue growth is expected to be up 2 percent to 4 percent compared to prior year on capacity growth of 3 percent to 4 percent. Industry supply growth continues to rationalize, positioning Delta well in the final quarter of the year and as we move into 2025."

The complete report can be found on Delta’s website.