Delta Reports Financial and Operating Performance for December 2012

     Delta Reports Financial and Operating Performance for December 2012

PR Newswire

ATLANTA, Jan. 3, 2013

ATLANTA, Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today
reported financial and operating performance for December 2012.

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

For the month of December, Delta's unit revenues improved 4.0 percent versus
prior year, driven by strong holiday demand, merchandising revenue growth and
continued capacity discipline.

Delta's operating performance was solid in December.  Delta's completion
factor was 99.7 percent, and 85.4 percent of flights arrived on time.

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

Preliminary Financial and Operational Results

 
December Consolidated PRASM change year over year          4.0%
Projected December quarter fuel price per gallon, adjusted $3.25
December On-time performance (preliminary DOT A14)         85.4%
December Mainline completion factor                        99.7%

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

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. During the
past year, Delta was named domestic "Airline of the Year" by the readers of
Travel Weekly magazine, was named the "Top Tech-Friendly U.S. Airline" by
PCWorld magazine for its innovation in technology, won the Business Travel
News Annual Airline Survey and was the recipient of 12 Executive Travel
Magazine Leading Edge Awards for U.S. airlines. With an industry-leading
global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to
nearly 318 destinations in 59 countries on six continents. Headquartered in
Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline
fleet of more than 700 aircraft. A founding member of the SkyTeam global
alliance, Delta 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 13,000 daily flights, with hubs in
Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New
York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and
Tokyo-Narita. The airline's service includes the SkyMiles frequent flier
program, a world-class airline loyalty program; the award-winning
BusinessElite service; and more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide.
Delta is investing more than $3 billion through 2013 in airport facilities and
global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in
the air and on the ground. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding
passes, check bags and review flight status at delta.com.

Forward Looking Statements 
Statements in this investor update 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; risks related to
the operation of an oil refinery by our wholly-owned subsidiary;  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 increasing dependence
on technology in our operations; 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; our ability to retain
management and key employees; competitive conditions in the airline industry;
the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses; and the effects of
terrorist attacks.  

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, 2011 and our Quarterly Report
on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2012.  Caution
should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements,
which represent our views only as of December 4, 2012, and which we have no
current intention to update.

 

               Monthly Traffic Results (a)         Year to Date Traffic Results (a)
               Dec 2012    Dec 2011    Change      Dec 2012     Dec 2011     Change
RPMs (000):
 Domestic      8,745,943   8,817,212   (0.8%)      114,686,676  115,052,365  (0.3%)
    Delta      7,043,828   6,968,483   1.1%        91,460,488   90,774,573   0.8%
    Mainline
    Regional   1,702,115   1,848,729   (7.9%)      23,226,188   24,277,792   (4.3%)
 International 6,009,971   5,870,936   2.4%        78,269,101   77,714,169   0.7%
    Latin      1,276,847   1,136,364   12.4%       13,776,769   13,037,423   5.7%
    America
        Delta  1,260,746   1,120,568   12.5%       13,609,919   12,831,075   6.1%
    Mainline
               16,100      15,796      1.9%        166,849      206,348      (19.1%)
    Regional
    Atlantic   2,744,768   2,868,414   (4.3%)      39,917,925   41,466,247   (3.7%)
    Pacific    1,988,356   1,866,158   6.5%        24,574,408   23,210,499   5.9%
 Total System  14,755,913  14,688,148  0.5%        192,955,777  192,766,534  0.1%
ASMs (000):
 Domestic      10,733,622  10,928,232  (1.8%)      136,478,775  138,304,905  (1.3%)
    Delta      8,544,611   8,509,217   0.4%        107,172,576  107,406,751  (0.2%)
    Mainline
    Regional   2,189,011   2,419,015   (9.5%)      29,306,199   30,898,154   (5.2%)
 International 7,107,183   7,228,993   (1.7%)      93,920,846   96,351,242   (2.5%)
    Latin      1,537,193   1,423,894   8.0%        16,880,807   16,534,776   2.1%
    America
        Delta  1,516,779   1,400,701   8.3%        16,638,445   16,226,732   2.5%
    Mainline
               20,414      23,193      (12.0%)     242,361      308,044      (21.3%)
    Regional
    Atlantic   3,240,902   3,502,292   (7.5%)      47,487,519   51,008,689   (6.9%)
    Pacific    2,329,088   2,302,807   1.1%        29,552,520   28,807,777   2.6%
 Total System  17,840,805  18,157,225  (1.7%)      230,399,620  234,656,147  (1.8%)
Load Factor:
 Domestic      81.5%       80.7%       0.8     pts 84.0%        83.2%        0.8     pts
    Delta      82.4%       81.9%       0.5     pts 85.3%        84.5%        0.8     pts
    Mainline
    Regional   77.8%       76.4%       1.4     pts 79.3%        78.6%        0.7     pts
 International 84.6%       81.2%       3.4     pts 83.3%        80.7%        2.6     pts
    Latin      83.1%       79.8%       3.3     pts 81.6%        78.8%        2.8     pts
    America
        Delta  83.1%       80.0%       3.1     pts 81.8%        79.1%        2.7     pts
    Mainline
               78.9%       68.1%       10.8    pts 68.8%        67.0%        1.8     pts
    Regional
    Atlantic   84.7%       81.9%       2.8     pts 84.1%        81.3%        2.8     pts
    Pacific    85.4%       81.0%       4.4     pts 83.2%        80.6%        2.6     pts
 Total System  82.7%       80.9%       1.8     pts 83.7%        82.1%        1.6     pts
Mainline       99.7%       99.8%       (0.1)   pts
Completion
Factor
Passengers     12,469,194  12,563,985  (0.8%)      164,571,529  163,838,348  0.4%
Boarded
Cargo Ton      193,316     197,733     (2.2%)      2,383,295    2,370,472    0.5%
Miles (000):
Endnote:
^aResults include flights operated under
contract carrier arrangements.

 

SOURCE Delta Air Lines

Website: http://www.delta.com
Contact: Corporate Communications, +1-404-715-2554, news archive at
news.delta.com, or Investor Relations, +1-404-715-2170