Delta Reports Operating Performance for March 2019

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Apr 02, 2019, 09:00 ET

ATLANTA, April 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today reported operating performance for March 2019. The company carried a record 17.6 million customers in the month of March and a first quarter record 45 million passengers across its broad global network in 2019.

Monthly highlights include:

Signing a contract renewal with American Express through 2029, leveraging shared strengths to deliver best-in-class value to customers and doubling the expected benefits to Delta to nearly $7 billion annually by 2023, up from $3.4 billion in 2018
Completing $1.3 billion in share repurchases in the March quarter by opportunistically buying back 26 million shares, reaffirming Delta's commitment to consistent shareholder returns
Celebrating the one-year approval of the airline's joint venture with Korean Air, featuring award winning products, including Delta One Suites and Delta Premium Select available on our new aircraft, including the Airbus A350, and expanding to the Boeing 777
Participating in the 16th Delta Global Build with Habitat for Humanity and partnering with employees from GOL to construct six new homes for local families in Brazil, bringing the total to 270 built or rehabilitated homes in 13 different countries by Delta since 1995

The company's operating performance is detailed in the table below.

			Monthly Traffic Results			Year to Date Traffic Results


			Mar 2019	Mar 2018	Change	Mar 2019	Mar 2018	Change

RPMs (000):
	Domestic		13,064,667	12,217,143	6.9%	33,332,977	31,463,883	5.9%
	International		6,877,779	6,729,113	2.2%	18,285,534	17,811,722	2.7%
		Latin America	2,135,134	2,100,194	1.7%	5,855,738	5,851,551	0.1%
		Atlantic	2,984,318	2,885,448	3.4%	7,567,608	7,176,596	5.4%
		Pacific	1,758,327	1,743,471	0.9%	4,862,188	4,783,575	1.6%
	Total System		19,942,445	18,946,256	5.3%	51,618,511	49,275,605	4.8%


ASMs (000):
	Domestic		15,036,573	14,113,592	6.5%	40,229,778	37,982,589	5.9%
	International		7,953,082	7,690,749	3.4%	22,190,731	21,470,423	3.4%
		Latin America	2,437,260	2,391,733	1.9%	6,884,880	6,849,930	0.5%
		Atlantic	3,487,689	3,336,933	4.5%	9,601,714	9,080,285	5.7%
		Pacific	2,028,134	1,962,083	3.4%	5,704,137	5,540,208	3.0%
	Total System		22,989,655	21,804,341	5.4%	62,420,510	59,453,012	5.0%


Load Factor:
	Domestic		86.9%	86.6%	0.3 Pts	82.9%	82.8%	0.1 Pts
	International		86.5%	87.5%	(1.0) Pts	82.4%	83.0%	(0.6) Pts
		Latin America	87.6%	87.8%	(0.2) Pts	85.1%	85.4%	(0.3) Pts
		Atlantic	85.6%	86.5%	(0.9) Pts	78.8%	79.0%	(0.2) Pts
		Pacific	86.7%	88.9%	(2.2) Pts	85.2%	86.3%	(1.1) Pts
	Total System		86.7%	86.9%	(0.2) Pts	82.7%	82.9%	(0.2) Pts

Mainline Completion Factor			99.93	99.03	0.90 Pts

Mainline On-time Performance			88.2	86.9	1.3 Pts
(preliminary DOT A14)

Passengers Boarded			17,617,698	16,581,727	6.2%	45,063,205	42,886,432	5.1%

Cargo Ton Miles (000):			178,511	188,750	(5.4%)	487,862	503,844	(3.2%)

About Delta
Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) is the U.S. global airline leader in products, services, innovation, reliability and customer experience. Powered by its 80,000 people around the world, Delta continues to invest billions in its people, improving the air travel experience and generating industry-leading shareholder returns.

Delta serves nearly 200 million people every year, taking customers across its industry-leading global network to more than 300 destinations in over 50 countries.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta offers more than 5,000 daily departures and as many as 15,000 affiliated departures including the premier SkyTeam alliance, of which Delta is a founding member.
Through its innovative alliances with Aeromexico, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, China Eastern, GOL, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Australia and WestJet, Delta is bringing more choice and competition to customers worldwide.
Delta operates significant hubs and key markets at airports in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York-JFK and LaGuardia, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City, São Paulo, Seattle, Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo-Narita.
Delta has been recognized as a Fortune's top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline for the eighth time in nine years. Additionally, Delta has ranked No.1 in the Business Travel News Annual Airline survey for an unprecedented eight consecutive years and named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Worldwide for two consecutive years.
As an employer, Delta has been regularly awarded top honors from organizations like Glassdoor and recognized as a top workplace for women and members of the military. Delta CEO Ed Bastian was named among the "World's Greatest Leaders" by Fortune magazine in 2018.
More about Delta can be found on the Delta News Hub as well as delta.com, via @DeltaNewsHub on Twitter 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 fuel hedging activity including rebalancing our hedge portfolio, recording mark-to-market adjustments or posting collateral in connection with our fuel hedge contracts; the performance of our significant investments in airlines in other parts of the world; the possible effects of accidents involving our aircraft; breaches or security lapses in our information technology systems; disruptions in our information technology infrastructure; our dependence on technology in our operations; the restrictions that financial covenants in our financing agreements could have on our financial and business operations; labor issues; the effects of weather, natural disasters and seasonality on our business; the effects of an extended disruption in services provided by third parties; failure or inability of insurance to cover a significant liability at Monroe's Trainer refinery; the impact of environmental regulation on the Trainer refinery, including costs related to renewable fuel standard regulations; our ability to retain senior management and key employees; damage to our reputation and brand if we are exposed to significant adverse publicity through social media; the effects of terrorist attacks or geopolitical conflict; competitive conditions in the airline industry; interruptions or disruptions in service at major airports at which we operate; the effects of extensive government regulation on our business; the sensitivity of the airline industry to prolonged periods of stagnant or weak economic conditions; uncertainty in economic conditions and regulatory environment in the United Kingdom related to the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union; and the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses.

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 December 31, 2018. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of April 2, 2019, and which we have no current intention to update.

SOURCE Delta Air Lines