Delta Reports Financial and Operating Performance for September 2013

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Oct 02, 2013, 09:00 ET

ATLANTA, Oct. 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today reported financial and operating performance for September 2013.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO)

Consolidated passenger unit revenue (PRASM) for the month of September increased 5.5% year over year, with particularly strong results in the trans-Atlantic and domestic entities. The negative impact of yen devaluation lessened from its peak in August, resulting in 1 point of system PRASM pressure for the month.

Delta completed 99.9 percent of its flights in September and ran an on-time arrival rate of 90.2 percent.

The company's financial and operating performance is detailed below.

Preliminary Financial and Operating Results
September consolidated PRASM change year over year	5.5%
Projected September quarter fuel price per gallon, adjusted	$2.98 - $3.03
September mainline completion factor	99.9%
September on-time performance (preliminary DOT A14)	90.2%

Note: Fuel price includes taxes, transportation, settled hedges, hedge premiums and refinery impact, but excludes mark to market adjustments on open hedges.

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. Delta was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2013 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list, topping the list for the second time in three years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 312 destinations in 56 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta is investing more than $3 billion in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta and Facebook.com/delta.

Forward Looking Statements

Statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections or strategies for the future, may be "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections and strategies reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the cost of aircraft fuel; the availability of aircraft fuel; the impact of posting collateral in connection with our fuel hedge contracts; the impact of significant funding obligations with respect to defined benefit pension plans; the impact that our indebtedness may have on our financial and operating activities and our ability to incur additional debt; the restrictions that financial covenants in our financing agreements will have on our financial and business operations; labor issues; interruptions or disruptions in service at one of our hub airports; our dependence on technology in our operations; disruptions or security breaches of our information technology infrastructure; the ability of our credit card processors to take significant holdbacks in certain circumstances; the possible effects of accidents involving our aircraft; the effects of weather, natural disasters and seasonality on our business; the effects of an extended disruption in services provided by third party regional carriers; failure or inability of insurance to cover a significant liability at the Trainer refinery; the impact of environmental regulation on the Trainer refinery, including costs related to renewable fuel standard regulations; our ability to retain management and key employees; our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income; competitive conditions in the airline industry; the effects of extensive government regulation on our business; the effects of terrorist attacks; the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses; and the costs associated with insurance.

Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2012 and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2013. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of October 2, 2013, and which we have no current intention to update.

			Monthly Traffic Results (a)				Year to Date Traffic Results (a)


			Sep 2013	Sep 2012	Change		Sep 2013	Sep 2012	Change

RPMs (000):
	Domestic		9,085,654	8,992,849	1.0%		86,919,620	87,188,339	(0.3%)
		Delta Mainline	7,355,432	7,223,611	1.8%		70,388,843	69,374,768	1.5%
		Regional	1,730,222	1,769,238	(2.2%)		16,530,777	17,813,571	(7.2%)
	International		6,988,736	6,800,779	2.8%		61,866,526	60,510,702	2.2%
		Latin America	1,072,904	943,192	13.8%		11,540,807	10,550,686	9.4%
		Delta Mainline	1,060,557	931,728	13.8%		11,388,934	10,425,544	9.2%
		Regional	12,347	11,464	7.7%		151,873	125,142	21.4%
		Atlantic	3,804,649	3,724,566	2.2%		31,431,058	31,221,356	0.7%
		Pacific	2,111,183	2,133,021	(1.0%)		18,894,661	18,738,660	0.8%
	Total System		16,074,391	15,793,628	1.8%		148,786,146	147,699,041	0.7%

ASMs (000):
	Domestic		11,241,572	11,165,564	0.7%		104,137,871	103,372,965	0.7%
		Delta Mainline	8,959,978	8,883,557	0.9%		82,766,792	80,926,875	2.3%
		Regional	2,281,594	2,282,007	(0.0%)		21,371,080	22,446,090	(4.8%)
	International		8,055,829	7,813,852	3.1%		72,654,529	72,700,388	(0.1%)
		Latin America	1,317,962	1,140,743	15.5%		13,733,950	12,970,339	5.9%
		Delta Mainline	1,302,167	1,123,851	15.9%		13,537,498	12,784,095	5.9%
		Regional	15,794	16,892	(6.5%)		196,451	186,244	5.5%
		Atlantic	4,200,869	4,142,202	1.4%		36,635,513	37,145,172	(1.4%)
		Pacific	2,536,999	2,530,907	0.2%		22,285,067	22,584,877	(1.3%)
	Total System		19,297,402	18,979,416	1.7%		176,792,400	176,073,353	0.4%

Load Factor:
	Domestic		80.8%	80.5%	0.3	pts	83.5%	84.3%	(0.8)	pts
		Delta Mainline	82.1%	81.3%	0.8	pts	85.0%	85.7%	(0.7)	pts
		Regional	75.8%	77.5%	(1.7)	pts	77.4%	79.4%	(2.0)	pts
	International		86.8%	87.0%	(0.2)	pts	85.2%	83.2%	2.0	pts
		Latin America	81.4%	82.7%	(1.3)	pts	84.0%	81.3%	2.7	pts
		Delta Mainline	81.4%	82.9%	(1.5)	pts	84.1%	81.6%	2.5	pts
		Regional	78.2%	67.9%	10.3	pts	77.3%	67.2%	10.1	pts
		Atlantic	90.6%	89.9%	0.7	pts	85.8%	84.1%	1.7	pts
		Pacific	83.2%	84.3%	(1.1)	pts	84.8%	83.0%	1.8	pts
	Total System		83.3%	83.2%	0.1	pts	84.2%	83.9%	0.3	pts

Passengers Boarded			13,246,604	13,124,694	0.9%	pts	124,692,504	125,067,176	(0.3%)

Mainline Completion Factor			99.9%	99.8%	0.1	pts

Cargo Ton Miles (000):			201,568	202,709	(0.6%)		1,743,704	1,795,432	(2.9%)

^aResults include flights operated under contract carrier arrangements

Non-GAAP Reconciliation

Delta sometimes uses information ("non-GAAP financial measures") that is derived from our Consolidated Financial Statements, but that is not presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP"). Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, non-GAAP financial measures may be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results.

Delta excludes mark-to-market adjustments for fuel hedges recorded in periods other than the settlement period ("MTM adjustments") from average price per fuel gallon because excluding these adjustments allows investors to better understand and analyze Delta's costs for the periods reported. MTM adjustments are based on market prices as of the end of the reporting period for contracts settling in future periods. Such market prices are not necessarily indicative of the actual future value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period.

Average Fuel Price Per Gallon

(Projected)

Three Months Ended,

Consolidated

September 30, 2013

Average price per fuel gallon⁽¹⁾

$2.71 to $2.76

MTM adjustments

0.27

Average price per fuel gallon, adjusted

$2.98 to $3.03