ATLANTA, Nov. 6, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today reported October traffic results for both Delta and Northwest operating units.
Delta
Delta reported record load factors for October 2008. Load factors for system (81.6 percent), domestic (83.7 percent) and mainline domestic (84.9%) were higher than any previous October on record for Delta.
Delta's system traffic in October 2008 decreased 2.2 percent over October 2007 on a capacity decrease of 4.7 percent. Delta's system load factor increased 2.0 points compared to the same period last year. International traffic increased 11.5 percent year over year on a 12.5 percent increase in capacity, and load factor declined 0.7 points. As a result of Delta's global expansion, a record number of passengers flew internationally on Delta during the month of October. The number of international and Atlantic passengers increased 5.2 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively, versus the same period last year.
Domestic traffic decreased 8.8 percent year over year on 13.0 percent lower capacity, and load factor increased 3.8 points.
Northwest
Northwest's system traffic in October 2008 decreased 1.4 points on a capacity decrease of 2.0 percent. Northwest's system load factor increased 0.5 points compared to the same period last year.
International traffic increased 5.2 percent year over year on a 6.0 percent increase in capacity, and load factor declined 0.6 points. Domestic traffic decreased 6.1 percent year over year on a 7.4 percent decrease in capacity, and load factor increased 1.1 points.
"Thanks in part to the capacity reductions taken earlier this year, October unit revenues for both Delta and Northwest were in line with forecast," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president -- Network Planning and Revenue Management. "As expected, we are starting to see some signs of international demand softness and are proactively adjusting our winter schedules to trim frequencies where warranted while maintaining our broad global scope."
Detailed traffic and capacity are attached.
Delta Air Lines is the world's largest airline. From its hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita, Delta, its NWA subsidiary and Delta Connection carriers offer service to more than 376 destinations worldwide in 66 countries and serve more than 170 million passengers each year. Delta's marketing alliances allow customers to earn and redeem either SkyMiles or WorldPerks on more than 16,000 daily flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta and its 75,000 worldwide employees are reshaping the aviation industry as the only U.S. airline to offer a full global network. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and flight status at delta.com.
The Delta Air Lines, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.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; competitive conditions in the airline industry; and our ability to achieve expected synergies from our merger with Northwest.
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 Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2008. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on Delta's forward-looking statements, which represent Delta's views only as of November 6, 2008, and which Delta has no current intention to update.
Delta Air Lines
Monthly Traffic Results(a)
October 2008 October 2007 Change
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RPMs (000):
Domestic 6,266,639 6,871,157 (8.8%)
Mainline 4,970,469 5,302,925 (6.3%)
Regional 1,296,170 1,568,232 (17.3%)
International 3,664,046 3,286,641 11.5%
Latin America 595,386 631,047 (5.7%)
Mainline 578,435 596,189 (3.0%)
Regional 16,951 34,858 (51.4%)
Atlantic 2,850,945 2,522,075 13.0%
Pacific 217,715 133,519 63.1%
System 9,930,685 10,157,798 (2.2%)
ASMs (000):
Domestic 7,485,058 8,600,440 (13.0%)
Mainline 5,855,431 6,588,394 (11.1%)
Regional 1,629,627 2,012,046 (19.0%)
International 4,681,664 4,161,399 12.5%
Latin America 820,838 856,973 (4.2%)
Mainline 797,429 808,051 (1.3%)
Regional 23,409 48,922 (52.2%)
Atlantic 3,568,755 3,121,687 14.3%
Pacific 292,071 182,739 59.8%
System 12,166,722 12,761,839 (4.7%)
Load Factor
Domestic 83.7% 79.9% 3.8 pts
Mainline 84.9% 80.5% 4.4 pts
Regional 79.5% 77.9% 1.6 pts
International 78.3% 79.0% (0.7) pts
Latin America 72.5% 73.6% (1.1) pts
Mainline 72.5% 73.8% (1.3) pts
Regional 72.4% 71.3% 1.1 pts
Atlantic 79.9% 80.8% (0.9) pts
Pacific 74.5% 73.1% 1.4 pts
System 81.6% 79.6% 2.0 pts
Passengers Boarded 8,773,191 9,218,867 (4.8%)
Completion Factor 99.5% 99.2% 0.3 pts
Cargo Ton Miles (000):
Mail 5,854 5,231 11.9%
Freight 103,104 97,413 5.8%
Total System 108,958 102,644 6.2%
Endnote:
(a) Results include operations under our contract carrier
arrangements.
Delta Air Lines
Year to Date Traffic Results (a)
October 2008 October 2007 Change
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RPMs (000):
Domestic 66,095,794 69,571,084 (5.0%)
Mainline 51,659,393 54,375,741 (5.0%)
Regional 14,436,401 15,195,343 (5.0%)
International 38,298,936 33,413,375 14.6%
Latin America 8,887,298 8,541,574 4.0%
Mainline 8,449,694 8,125,040 4.0%
Regional 437,604 416,534 5.1%
Atlantic 27,379,728 23,686,792 15.6%
Pacific 2,031,910 1,185,009 71.5%
Total System 104,394,730 102,984,459 1.4%
ASMs (000):
Domestic 79,388,411 85,053,484 (6.7%)
Mainline 61,155,829 65,616,860 (6.8%)
Regional 18,232,582 19,436,624 (6.2%)
International 47,976,682 42,057,969 14.1%
Latin America 11,209,300 11,297,013 (0.8%)
Mainline 10,637,116 10,713,991 (0.7%)
Regional 572,184 583,022 (1.8%)
Atlantic 34,121,105 29,327,129 16.3%
Pacific 2,646,277 1,433,827 84.6%
Total System 127,365,093 127,111,453 0.2%
Load Factor
Domestic 83.3% 81.8% 1.5 pts
Mainline 84.5% 82.9% 1.6 pts
Regional 79.2% 78.2% 1.0 pts
International 79.8% 79.4% 0.4 pts
Latin America 79.3% 75.6% 3.7 pts
Mainline 79.4% 75.8% 3.6 pts
Regional 76.5% 71.4% 5.1 pts
Atlantic 80.2% 80.8% (0.6) pts
Pacific 76.8% 82.6% (5.8) pts
Total System 82.0% 81.0% 1.0 pts
Passengers Boarded 89,534,704 91,899,759 (2.6%)
Cargo Ton Miles (000):
Mail 58,733 47,664 23.2%
Freight 972,687 878,779 10.7%
Total System 1,031,421 926,444 11.3%
Endnote:
(a) Results include operations under our contract carrier
arrangements.
Northwest Airlines
Monthly Traffic Results (a)
October 2008 October 2007 Change
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RPMs (000):
Domestic 3,569,567 3,801,390 (6.1%)
Mainline 2,808,500 3,304,660 (15.0%)
Regional 761,067 496,730 53.2%
International 2,812,167 2,672,060 5.2%
Atlantic 1,116,303 1,036,800 7.7%
Pacific 1,695,864 1,635,260 3.7%
Total System 6,381,734 6,473,450 (1.4%)
ASMs (000):
Domestic 4,268,688 4,609,663 (7.4%)
Mainline 3,277,633 3,970,564 (17.5%)
Regional 991,055 639,099 55.1%
International 3,306,000 3,118,791 6.0%
Atlantic 1,369,435 1,229,922 11.3%
Pacific 1,936,565 1,888,869 2.5%
Total System 7,574,688 7,728,454 (2.0%)
Load Factor
Domestic 83.6% 82.5% 1.1 pts
Mainline 85.7% 83.2% 2.5 pts
Regional 76.8% 77.7% (0.9) pts
International 85.1% 85.7% (0.6) pts
Atlantic 81.5% 84.3% (2.8) pts
Pacific 87.6% 86.6% 1.0 pts
Total System 84.3% 83.8% 0.5 pts
Passengers Boarded: 5,298,249 5,588,287 (5.2%)
Cargo Ton Miles (000): 125,492 190,398 (34.1%)
Endnote:
(a) Results include operations under our contract carrier
arrangements.
Northwest Airlines
Year to Date Traffic Results(a)
October 2008 October 2007 Change
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RPMs (000):
Domestic 39,479,089 39,517,503 0.1%
Mainline 32,947,528 35,075,151 (6.1%)
Regional 6,531,561 4,442,352 47.0%
International 28,011,350 26,419,496 6.0%
Atlantic 11,331,997 9,659,658 17.3%
Pacific 16,679,353 16,759,838 0.5%
Total System 67,490,439 65,936,999 2.4%
ASMs (000):
Domestic 47,183,984 47,707,189 (1.1%)
Mainline 38,562,131 41,792,283 (7.7%)
Regional 8,621,853 5,914,906 45.8%
International 32,824,602 30,475,481 7.7%
Atlantic 13,572,929 11,187,542 21.3%
Pacific 19,251,673 19,287,939 (0.2%)
Total System 80,008,586 78,182,670 2.3%
Load Factor
Domestic 83.7% 82.8% 0.9 pts
Mainline 85.4% 83.9% 1.5 pts
Regional 75.8% 75.1% 0.7 pts
International 85.3% 86.7% (1.4) pts
Atlantic 83.5% 86.3% (2.8) pts
Pacific 86.6% 86.9% (0.3) pts
Total System 84.4% 84.3% 0.1 pts
Passengers Boarded: 55,732,332 55,831,846 (0.2%)
Cargo Ton Miles (000): 1,443,005 1,674,552 (13.8%)
Endnote:
(a) Results include operations under our contract carrier
arrangements.