Delta returns to profitability but soaring fuel prices could bring new losses

Fuel is the second largest cost for an airline behind the cost of labor. Delta paid an average of $1.94 a gallon for fuel in the third quarter — up 55% from a year ago but about the same price it paid two years ago. But the company warned it expects to pay between $2.25 to $2.40 a gallon on average for the current quarter.

The company did report net income in the second quarter but that was primarily due to a final infusion of government support it and other airlines received in the quarter.

Summer travel

Delta and other US airlines had a strong summer travel season, as pent-up demand for vacation travel filled planes. Delta filled 80% of its available seats during the quarter, only slightly below the 88% level it reported in the same period of 2019.

But a major factor in the packed plane seats is that Delta is still well below the number of flights it was flying two years ago. Overall capacity on the airline was down 28% during the quarter compared to the same time in 2019, with much of the reduction on international routes. Domestic capacity was off 16%.

Still, Delta’s 2021 schedule is comparatively much closer to its pre-pandemic schedule than it was throughout the course of 2020, when capacity was only half of what it was before the crisis.

Overall revenue in the quarter at the airline fell 27% from 2019 levels to $9.2 billion. The airline flew less than half of its pre-pandemic schedule on trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes, although international flights to and from Latin America was within 7% of pre-pandemic levels.