Delta soars with US$2.7bn profit
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Delta Air Lines has posted an impressive net profit of US$2.7 billion for 2013.
The world’s biggest airline, Delta managed to combined rising demand with tight cost controls and capacity management, to boost its full-year earnings by 68%, or an extra US$1.1bn, compared to 2012.
The company’s operating revenues climbed 3% year-on-year to US$37.8bn during 2013, driven by a 4% rise in passenger revenues, to US$32.9bn. But Delta also managed to keep tight control of its outgoings last year, with operating costs per seat mile falling 1%, while passenger revenue per seat mile climbed 3%. And despite a 2% rise in the amount of fuel consumed, the average price Delta paid for every gallon of fuel dropped 6%.
Fuel expenses now account for just 27% of Delta’s overall operating costs, compared to 29% in 2012.
And looking forward, Delta’s president Ed Bastian said he was optimistic for 2014.
“With a solid demand environment, industry-wide capacity discipline and a number of Delta’s revenue initiatives already delivering benefits, we expect to produce significant margin expansion in the March quarter,” said Bastian.
“As we move through the year, we expect to generate top-line revenue growth as we implement our Virgin Atlantic joint venture, continue to restructure and diversify our Pacific network, gain additional corporate share, and ramp up our merchandising efforts.”
Delta, which is based in Atlanta, remained the world’s biggest airline in 2013, in terms of passenger traffic. The carrier boarded 164.66m passengers in 2013, and now operates a fleet of 743 aircraft.
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