Delta reported solid business travel demand despite a 1
percent year-over-year drop in total passenger revenue to $7.7 billion in the
first quarter.
The carrier made progress on pushing business fares up during
the quarter, Delta president Glen Hauenstein said. Delta has recovered about
half of the double-digit-percentage decline in average domestic business fares it
experienced from early 2015 to autumn 2016, he said. "Business fares are
moving in the right direction, and further improvement in domestic business
yields remains our top priority and opportunity," Hauenstein said.
"Getting fares back to the level achieved in early 2015 would provide
significant additional revenue momentum."
The carrier's business travel demand outlook also appears
solid. According to a recent Delta survey, 84 percent of its corporate
customers expect their business travel levels to maintain or increase for the
rest of the year, he added. In particularly, the energy and banking and finance
sectors are strong, according to Delta.
During the first quarter, Delta's traffic increased 0.5
percent year over year, and the carrier reduced capacity 0.5 percent. For the
full year, Delta plans to cap capacity growth at 1 percent to help push unit
revenue up, Hauenstein said.
Delta's load factor in the third quarter increased 0.8
percentage points to 82.9 percent. Yield declined 1.4 percent year over year.
The
carrier reported a net income of $603 million for the first quarter, down from
$946 million in the first quarter of 2016. Higher fuel prices caused some of that
decline, Delta CEO Ed Bastian said.