Delta Reports Financial and Operating Performance for September 2014

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Oct 02, 2014, 09:05 ET

ATLANTA, Oct. 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today reported financial and operating performance for September 2014.

Consolidated passenger unit revenue (PRASM) for the month of September increased 2.0 percent year over year as continued corporate and domestic strength offset pressure on international unit revenues.

Delta's solid operating performance continued through September, with a monthly completion factor of 99.8 percent and an on-time arrival rate of 85.7 percent.

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

Preliminary Financial and Operating Results
September consolidated PRASM change year over year	2.0%
Projected September quarter fuel price per gallon, adjusted	$2.90 - $2.95
September mainline completion factor	99.8%
September on-time performance (preliminary DOT A14)	85.7%

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 nearly 165 million customers each year. This year, Delta was named the 2014 Airline of the Year by Air Transport World magazine and was named to FORTUNE magazine's 50 Most Admired Companies, in addition to being named the most admired airline for the third time in four years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 318 destinations in 57 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 as well as a newly formed joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with key hubs and markets including Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK, New York-LaGuardia, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Tokyo-Narita. Delta has invested billions of dollars in airport facilities, 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, Facebook.com/delta and Delta's blog takingoff.delta.com.

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 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; 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 war risk 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, 2013. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of Oct. 2, 2014, and which we have no current intention to update.

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


			Sep 2014	Sep 2013	Change		Sep 2014	Sep 2013	Change

RPMs (000):
	Domestic		9,600,306	9,086,388	5.7%		90,871,989	86,925,722	4.5%
		Delta Mainline	7,908,890	7,356,357	7.5%		74,723,124	70,393,560	6.2%
		Regional	1,691,416	1,730,031	(2.2%)		16,148,865	16,532,162	(2.3%)
	International		7,351,177	6,990,642	5.2%		64,018,293	61,872,756	3.5%
		Latin America	1,214,792	1,073,060	13.2%		13,812,413	11,549,907	19.6%
		Delta Mainline	1,191,520	1,060,713	12.3%		13,539,161	11,397,918	18.8%
		Regional	23,272	12,347	88.5%		273,252	151,989	79.8%
		Atlantic	4,041,970	3,805,547	6.2%		31,439,092	31,425,794	0.0%
		Pacific	2,094,415	2,112,035	(0.8%)		18,766,788	18,897,055	(0.7%)
	Total System		16,951,483	16,077,030	5.4%		154,890,282	148,798,478	4.1%

ASMs (000):
	Domestic		11,580,440	11,242,516	3.0%		106,058,533	104,141,937	1.8%
		Delta Mainline	9,389,357	8,961,202	4.8%		85,816,618	82,768,098	3.7%
		Regional	2,191,083	2,281,314	(4.0%)		20,241,915	21,373,839	(5.3%)
	International		8,661,705	8,056,710	7.5%		75,590,376	72,653,938	4.0%
		Latin America	1,509,628	1,317,962	14.5%		16,494,182	13,743,817	20.0%
		Delta Mainline	1,476,669	1,302,168	13.4%		16,132,927	13,547,201	19.1%
		Regional	32,959	15,794	108.7%		361,255	196,616	83.7%
		Atlantic	4,543,938	4,200,872	8.2%		36,819,479	36,623,137	0.5%
		Pacific	2,608,140	2,537,876	2.8%		22,276,715	22,286,984	(0.0%)
	Total System		20,242,145	19,299,226	4.9%		181,648,909	176,795,875	2.7%

Load Factor:
	Domestic		82.9%	80.8%	2.1	pts	85.7%	83.5%	2.2	pts
		Delta Mainline	84.2%	82.1%	2.1	pts	87.1%	85.0%	2.1	pts
		Regional	77.2%	75.8%	1.4	pts	79.8%	77.3%	2.5	pts
	International		84.9%	86.8%	(1.9)	pts	84.7%	85.2%	(0.5)	pts
		Latin America	80.5%	81.4%	(0.9)	pts	83.7%	84.0%	(0.3)	pts
		Delta Mainline	80.7%	81.5%	(0.8)	pts	83.9%	84.1%	(0.2)	pts
		Regional	70.6%	78.2%	(7.6)	pts	75.6%	77.3%	(1.7)	pts
		Atlantic	89.0%	90.6%	(1.6)	pts	85.4%	85.8%	(0.4)	pts
		Pacific	80.3%	83.2%	(2.9)	pts	84.2%	84.8%	(0.6)	pts
	Total System		83.7%	83.3%	0.4	pts	85.3%	84.2%	1.1	pts

Mainline Completion Factor			99.8%	99.9%	(0.1)	pts

Passengers Boarded			13,930,376	13,241,533	5.2%		129,549,212	124,691,481	3.9%

Cargo Ton Miles (000):			208,143	201,861	3.1%		1,767,948	1,744,193	1.4%

^aResults include flights operated under contract carrier arrangements

Non-GAAP Reconciliation

Delta sometimes uses information ("non-GAAP financial measures") that is derived from the 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. The tables below show reconciliations of non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures.

Average Fuel Price per Gallon, Adjusted

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.


				(Projected)
				Three Months Ended
Consolidated				September 30, 2014
Average fuel price per gallon				$3.22 to $3.27
MTM adjustments				(0.32)
Average fuel price per gallon, adjusted				$2.90 to $2.95