Delta Air Lines Achieves Record August Load Factors


ATLANTA, Sept. 6, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today reported record load factors for August 2007. Load factors for the month for consolidated system (84.3 percent), mainline system (84.8 percent), total Latin America system (81.2 percent), total domestic (86.3 percent), mainline domestic (87.6 percent) and regional (81.6 percent) were all records for the month of August.

System traffic increased 8.8 percent from August 2006 with a capacity increase of 3.1 percent. Domestic traffic in August 2007 increased 4.7 percent year-over-year on a 2.6 percent decrease in capacity. International traffic in August 2007 increased 18.1 percent year over year on a 15.6 percent increase in capacity.

In addition, a record number of passengers flew internationally on Delta during the month of August. The number of international, Latin America and Atlantic passengers increased 17 percent, 24 percent and 11 percent, respectively, versus the same period last year.

"August unit revenues improved significantly year-over-year, driven by record load factors and strong international yields," said Glen Hauenstein, executive vice president - network planning and revenue management. "We expect September 2007 quarter operating revenues to be the highest in Delta's history -- further demonstrating that our strategy of shifting domestic capacity to unique international markets is working."

Delta completed 98.8 percent of scheduled flights during the month relative to 98.6 percent in August 2006. Delta boarded 10.2 million passengers during August 2007, an increase of 7.9 percent from August 2006. Detailed traffic and capacity are attached.

Delta Air Lines operates service to more destinations than any global airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 315 destinations in 54 countries. Since 2005, Delta has added more international capacity than all other major U.S. airlines combined and is a leader across the Atlantic with flights to 36 trans-Atlantic markets. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers nearly 400 weekly flights to 54 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on nearly 15,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 477 worldwide destinations in 103 countries. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.

The Delta Air Lines, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1825

Statements in this news 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 impact that our indebtedness will 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; our ability to retain management and key employees; the ability of our credit card processors to take significant holdbacks in certain circumstances; the effects of terrorist attacks; and competitive conditions in the airline industry. Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in Delta's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2006 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2007. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on Delta's forward-looking statements, which represent Delta's views only as of Sept. 6, 2007, and which Delta has no current intention to update.



                            Delta Air Lines
                     Monthly Traffic Results(a)

                          August 2007      August 2006       Change
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 RPMs (000):
 Domestic                  7,922,620         7,568,799         4.7%
   Delta Mainline          6,211,973         6,020,708         3.2%
   Comair                    431,786           504,278       (14.4%)
   Contract Carriers       1,278,861         1,043,813        22.5%
 International             3,983,973         3,374,492        18.1%
   Latin America             964,260           789,233        22.2%
     Delta Mainline          908,583           765,305        18.7%
     Comair                      554             1,634       (66.1%)
     Contract Carriers        55,123            22,294       147.3%
   Atlantic                2,861,253         2,482,084        15.3%
   Pacific                   158,460           103,175        53.6%
 Total System             11,906,593        10,943,291         8.8%

 ASMs (000):
 Domestic                  9,180,960         9,427,754        (2.6%)
   Delta Mainline          7,089,610         7,401,941        (4.2%)
   Comair                    533,602           669,426       (20.3%)
   Contract Carriers       1,557,748         1,356,387        14.8%
 International             4,937,507         4,272,392        15.6%
   Latin America           1,187,088         1,036,919        14.5%
     Delta Mainline        1,113,158         1,003,677        10.9%
     Comair                      632             2,191       (71.2%)
     Contract Carriers        73,298            31,051       136.1%
   Atlantic                3,571,470         3,121,811        14.4%
   Pacific                   178,949           113,662        57.4%
 Total System             14,118,467        13,700,146         3.1%

 Load Factor
 Domestic                       86.3%             80.3%        6.0 pts
   Delta Mainline               87.6%             81.3%        6.3 pts
   Comair                       80.9%             75.3%        5.6 pts
   Contract Carriers            82.1%             77.0%        5.1 pts
 International                  80.7%             79.0%        1.7 pts
   Latin America                81.2%             76.1%        5.1 pts
     Delta Mainline             81.6%             76.3%        5.3 pts
     Comair                     87.7%             74.6%       13.1 pts
     Contract Carriers          75.2%             71.8%        3.4 pts
   Atlantic                     80.1%             79.5%        0.6 pts
   Pacific                      88.6%             90.8%       (2.2)pts
 Total System                   84.3%             79.9%        4.4 pts

 Passengers Boarded       10,193,732         9,449,204         7.9%

Endnote:

(a) Results reflect operations under our contract carrier arrangements with the following airlines: Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., Chautauqua Airlines, Inc., Freedom Airlines, Inc., Shuttle America Corp., SkyWest Airlines Inc. for all periods presented, and ExpressJet Airlines beginning June 2007.


                            Delta Air Lines
                    Year to Date Traffic Results(a)

                          August 2007      August 2006       Change
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 RPMs (000):
 Domestic                 56,309,959        56,530,286        (0.4%)
   Delta Mainline         44,104,734        45,182,051        (2.4%)
   Comair                  3,089,190         3,590,752       (14.0%)
   Contract Carriers       9,116,035         7,757,483        17.5%
 International            26,731,153        22,612,304        18.2%
   Latin America           7,306,358         5,765,144        26.7%
     Delta Mainline        6,957,616         5,597,142        24.3%
     Comair                    6,806            32,430       (79.0%)
     Contract Carriers       341,936           135,572       152.2%
   Atlantic               18,504,936        16,066,492        15.2%
   Pacific                   919,859           780,668        17.8%
 Total System             83,041,112        79,142,590         4.9%

 ASMs (000):
 Domestic                 68,179,445        71,279,077        (4.3%)
   Delta Mainline         52,632,903        56,620,648        (7.0%)
   Comair                  4,087,268         4,811,243       (15.0%)
   Contract Carriers      11,459,274         9,847,186        16.4%
 International            33,561,723        28,513,547        17.7%
   Latin America           9,596,591         7,696,285        24.7%
     Delta Mainline        9,111,577         7,474,295        21.9%
     Comair                    8,473            43,883       (80.7%)
     Contract Carriers       476,541           178,107       167.6%
   Atlantic               22,889,236        19,927,053        14.9%
   Pacific                 1,075,896           890,209        20.9%
 Total System            101,741,168        99,792,624         2.0%

 Load Factor
 Domestic                       82.6%             79.3%        3.3 pts
   Delta Mainline               83.8%             79.8%        4.0 pts
   Comair                       75.6%             74.6%        1.0 pts
   Contract Carriers            79.6%             78.8%        0.8 pts
 International                  79.6%             79.3%        0.3 pts
   Latin America                76.1%             74.9%        1.2 pts
     Delta Mainline             76.4%             74.9%        1.5 pts
     Comair                     80.3%             73.9%        6.4 pts
     Contract Carriers          71.8%             76.1%       (4.3)pts
   Atlantic                     80.8%             80.6%        0.2 pts
   Pacific                      85.5%             87.7%       (2.2)pts
 Total System                   81.6%             79.3%        2.3 pts

 Passengers Boarded       74,225,162        72,244,088         2.7%

(a) Results reflect operations under our contract carrier arrangements with the following airlines: Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., Chautauqua Airlines, Inc., Freedom Airlines, Inc., Shuttle America Corp., SkyWest Airlines Inc. for all periods presented, and ExpressJet Airlines beginning June 2007.



            

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