Delta Air Lines Posts Quarterly Loss
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Delta Air Lines reported a quarterly loss Wednesday and said it was not planning for any meaningful rebound this year as the recession continued to hurt air travel.
Delta, which became the biggest airline when it acquired Northwest in October, said its second-quarter loss was USD$257 million, or 31 cents a share.
Excluding merger expenses of USD$58 million, Delta said it lost USD$199 million, or 24 cents per share.
The airline industry is cutting capacity to adjust to lower demand. Delta has announced plans to cut international capacity by 15 percent starting in September.
Delta has said it might need to cut more jobs. In May it offered pilots a voluntary separation package in hopes of reducing expenses. But only 215 of the 9,400 pilots eligible for the package signed up, the union that represents them said last week.
Operating revenue was USD$7 billion, while operating expenses were USD$6.9 billion, including USD$1.8 billion for fuel and related taxes.
Delta ended the quarter with USD$5.4 billion in unrestricted liquidity.
"The industry faces substantial challenges from unprecedented revenue declines and volatile fuel prices," said Richard Anderson, Delta's CEO.