A Delta plane in an airline hangar in Atlanta
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Delta Air Lines Revenue is expected to increase in the fourth quarter, thanks to flexible travel demand and strong bookings for year-end holidays.
The Atlanta-based carrier on Thursday forecast fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.60 to $1.85 per share, compared with Wall Street estimates of $1.71, according to LSEG, and above the $1.28 per share it reported a year ago.
Delta shares fell more than 5% in premarket trading.
Revenues will rise between 2% and 4% from a year earlier, compared to estimates of a 4.1% increase. The carrier warned it expects 1-point revenue from lower demand before and after the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election.
“We expect a little more confusion around the election than we’ve seen in past national elections,” CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview. “I think consumers are going to take a little bit of a pause in making investment decisions, whether it’s discretionary or other things. I think you’re going to hear the rest of the industry talking about that as well.”
He said holiday bookings are very strong.
Here’s how Delta performed in the third quarter compared to Wall Street expectations based on LSEG’s consensus estimates:
- Earnings per share: $1.50 adjusted and $1.52 expected
- Revenue: $14.59 billion adjusted and $14.67 billion expected
Delta reiterated that the Crowdstrike outage in July was a 45-cent hit to adjusted earnings, which was $1.50 a share, slightly below analyst estimates. Delta struggled to recover after the outage, which took thousands of lives Microsoft Windows machines are offline, prompting the airline to cancel thousands of flights. Delta said the incident generated $380 million in revenue.
Bastian has said he is seeking damages from Delta CrowdStrike and the Microsoft outage.
“The devastation that has been created, in my opinion, should be fully compensated,” he told CNBC. “This matter is now in the hands of our attorneys. We hope to reach a resolution, but we are keeping all of our options open.”
However, Delta’s net income rose 15% from a year earlier to $1.27 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, while total revenue rose 1% to $15.68 billion. Passenger revenue was flat from last year, but sales of premium offerings such as first class outpaced the main cabin.
An oversupplied domestic market has kept a lid on airfares, but Delta President Glen Hauenstein said the airline “industry supply growth continues to rationalize, positioning Delta well for the final quarter of the year and as we head into 2025.” The carrier plans to expand capacity by 3% to 4% in the fourth quarter.
Delta said it still expects its full-year adjusted earnings to come in between $6 and $7 per share, excluding the CrowdStrike impact.
