ATLANTA, May 5, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today reported traffic results for April 2008. System traffic in April 2008 increased 2.5 percent over April 2007, with a capacity increase of 2.7 percent. Delta's system load factor was 81.4 percent in April 2008, consistent with the same period last year.
International traffic remained strong in April 2008, increasing 16.5 percent year over year on a 16.5 percent increase in capacity. Domestic traffic in April 2008 decreased 3.7 percent year over year on a capacity decrease of 3.8 percent.
A record number of passengers flew internationally on Delta during the month of April. The number of international, Atlantic and Pacific passengers increased 9.8 percent, 16.0 percent and 111.5 percent, respectively, versus the same period last year.
"Delta's efforts to combat high fuel prices -- including international growth, domestic capacity rationalization, and aggressive yield management -- are the driving forces behind our trend of monthly unit revenue increases. With unique markets and improved products differentiating Delta from our global competitors, we saw another month of strong international unit revenue performance on top of a double digit capacity increase," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president -- Network Planning and Revenue Management. "Our Cargo business also contributed significantly to top line improvement with nearly 50 percent year-over-year revenue growth in April."
Detailed traffic and capacity are attached.
Delta Air Lines operates service to more worldwide destinations than any airline, with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 305 destinations in 58 countries. Delta has added more international capacity than any major U.S. airline during the last two years and is the leader across the Atlantic with flights to 38 trans-Atlantic markets. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers more than 478 weekly flights to 58 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on nearly 16,409 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 474 worldwide destinations in 104 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, 2007 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2008. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on Delta's forward-looking statements, which represent Delta's views only as of May 5, 2008, and which Delta has no current intention to update.
Delta Air Lines
Monthly Traffic Results(a)
April 2008 April 2007 Change
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RPMs (000):
Domestic 6,567,189 6,815,972 (3.7%)
Delta Mainline 5,053,420 5,324,254 (5.1%)
Comair 386,591 379,641 1.8%
Contract Carriers 1,127,178 1,112,077 1.4%
International 3,502,715 3,007,496 16.5%
Latin America 850,078 830,448 2.4%
Delta Mainline 797,174 793,280 0.5%
Comair 1,095 1,070 2.3%
Contract Carriers 51,809 36,098 43.5%
Atlantic 2,457,327 2,089,361 17.6%
Pacific 195,310 87,687 122.7%
System 10,069,904 9,823,468 2.5%
ASMs (000):
Domestic 7,919,975 8,231,749 (3.8%)
Delta Mainline 6,009,470 6,340,048 (5.2%)
Comair 503,974 490,094 2.8%
Contract Carriers 1,406,531 1,401,607 0.4%
International 4,457,825 3,825,920 16.5%
Latin America 1,107,263 1,135,416 (2.5%)
Delta Mainline 1,039,821 1,082,570 (3.9%)
Comair 1,289 1,285 0.3%
Contract Carriers 66,153 51,561 28.3%
Atlantic 3,065,549 2,582,335 18.7%
Pacific 285,013 108,169 163.5%
System 12,377,800 12,057,669 2.7%
Load Factor
Domestic 82.9% 82.8% 0.1 pts
Delta Mainline 84.1% 84.0% 0.1 pts
Comair 76.7% 77.5% (0.8) pts
Contract Carriers 80.1% 79.3% 0.8 pts
International 78.6% 78.6% (0.0) pts
Latin America 76.8% 73.1% 3.7 pts
Delta Mainline 76.7% 73.3% 3.4 pts
Comair 84.9% 83.3% 1.6 pts
Contract Carriers 78.3% 70.0% 8.3 pts
Atlantic 80.2% 80.9% (0.7) pts
Pacific 68.5% 81.1% (12.6) pts
System 81.4% 81.5% (0.1) pts
Passengers Boarded 8,922,118 9,122,806 (2.2%)
Completion Factor 99.2% 99.3% (0.1)pts
Cargo Ton Miles:
Mail 6,082,086 4,931,718 23.3%
Freight 102,408,238 84,861,127 20.7%
Total System 108,490,324 89,792,845 20.8%
Delta Air Lines
Year to Date Traffic Results (a)
April 2008 April 2007 Change
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RPMs (000):
Domestic 25,591,140 25,847,009 (1.0%)
Delta Mainline 19,830,008 20,247,125 (2.1%)
Comair 1,446,492 1,426,484 1.4%
Contract Carriers 4,314,640 4,173,400 3.4%
International 12,683,360 11,189,071 13.4%
Latin America 3,814,677 3,586,935 6.3%
Delta Mainline 3,599,195 3,438,844 4.7%
Comair 5,202 3,619 43.7%
Contract Carriers 210,280 144,472 45.6%
Atlantic 8,308,516 7,231,675 14.9%
Pacific 560,167 370,461 51.2%
Total System 38,274,500 37,036,080 3.3%
ASMs (000):
Domestic 32,013,938 32,722,054 (2.2%)
Delta Mainline 24,494,039 25,265,528 (3.1%)
Comair 2,004,845 2,017,934 (0.6%)
Contract Carriers 5,515,054 5,438,592 1.4%
International 16,455,713 14,615,014 12.6%
Latin America 4,794,415 4,831,385 (0.8%)
Delta Mainline 4,514,969 4,617,660 (2.2%)
Comair 6,489 4,570 42.0%
Contract Carriers 272,957 209,155 30.5%
Atlantic 10,904,733 9,345,154 16.7%
Pacific 756,565 438,475 72.5%
Total System 48,469,651 47,337,068 2.4%
Load Factor
Domestic 79.9% 79.0% 0.9 pts
Delta Mainline 81.0% 80.1% 0.9 pts
Comair 72.1% 70.7% 1.4 pts
Contract Carriers 78.2% 76.7% 1.5 pts
International 77.1% 76.6% 0.5 pts
Latin America 79.6% 74.2% 5.4 pts
Delta Mainline 79.7% 74.5% 5.2 pts
Comair 80.2% 79.2% 1.0 pts
Contract Carriers 77.0% 69.1% 7.9 pts
Atlantic 76.2% 77.4% (1.2) pts
Pacific 74.0% 84.5% (10.5) pts
Total System 79.0% 78.2% 0.8 pts
Passengers Boarded 34,508,380 34,447,983 0.2%
Cargo Ton Miles:
Mail 21,335,050 18,786,779 13.6%
Freight 373,444,546 332,906,677 12.2%
Total System 394,779,596 351,693,456 12.3%
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. and SkyWest Airlines Inc. for all periods presented, and
ExpressJet Airlines and Pinnacle Airlines, Inc beginning June 2007
and December 2007, respectively.