Delta Airlines post $1.45bn profit for 2015

Delta Air Lines has announced a financial results for the December 2015 quarter, including adjusted pre-tax income of $1.45 billion, a $430 million increase year over year.

Adjusted net income was $926 million or $1.18 per diluted share, up 51 percent from the December quarter of 2014.

Delta’s chief executive officer, Richard Anderson said the airline’s financial report shows the commitment of the Delta people to running the best airline in the world every day

“Our 2015 performance was a record for Delta on all fronts – with industry-leading operational performance, superior customer satisfaction, and a $5.9 billion adjusted pre-tax profit. These results show the commitment of the Delta people to running the best airline in the world every day. It’s an honour to reward their performance with $1.5 billion in profit sharing for the year.”

“As we look ahead to 2016, we have a significant opportunity to improve our performance even further. With over $3 billion in potential savings from lower fuel prices and numerous commercial, operational and cost initiatives already in place, we expect to again perform in the top tier of the S&P Industrials on earnings growth, margins, and cash flows this year despite global economic challenges”, he said.

Delta’s operating revenue for the December quarter decreased 2 percent, or $145 million, due to $160 million in foreign currency pressures. Passenger unit revenues declined 1.6 percent, which includes approximately 2 points of impact from foreign currency.

According to Delta’s president, Ed Bastian: “The success of our network actions and commercial initiatives in 2015 allowed us to grow our top line and our unit revenue premium to the industry, while overcoming nearly $700 million of revenue pressure from foreign currency.

“Looking ahead, the overall demand environment remains solid. The breadth of our network scale allows us to focus our commercial efforts on those areas of the business with the best opportunity such as the domestic marketplace, while reducing our exposure in some weaker international regions.

“While we expect international volatility and currency pressures to result in unit revenue declines of 2.5 – 4.5 per cent for the March quarter, we should see over 10 points of margin improvement given our capacity discipline in the face of a more than 50 percent decline in fuel prices.”