Delta’s net profit for the March 2013 quarter was $85 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, excluding special items. This result is a $124 million improvement year-over-year.

(TRAVPR.COM) USA - April 24th, 2013 - Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL)has announced the first quarter financial profit of $85 million, with year to year result improvement of $124 million, including $78million in special item and GAAP records of $7million net income.

Highlights from the quarter include: 

• Delta’s net profit for the March 2013 quarter was $85 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, excluding special items¹.  This result is a $124 million improvement year-over-year.
• Including $78 million in special items, Delta’s GAAP net income was $7 million, or $0.01 per diluted share.
• Results include $20 million of profit sharing expense in recognition of Delta employees’ contributions to the company’s financial performance.
• Delta generated $1.1 billion of operating cash flow and $457 million of free cash flow in the March 2013 quarter, and ended the period with adjusted net debt of just under $11.0 billion

Delta generated the sum of $1.1 billion of operating cash flow and $457 million of free cash flow ending the quarter with adjust debt under $11.0 billion reducing the company net debt by $6 billion since 2009.

Passenger revenue increased by $107 million compared to prior year period, leaving Cargo and other revenues to decrease by $6 million and $14 million respectively.

The world’s second biggest airline in the world and  recognized by Fortune magazine as ‘Most Admired Airline’ among other recognitions from leading organizations and publications gave kudos to its own employees toward meeting the company’s financial and operational goals with $43 million of incentives, including $20 million in employee profit sharing and $23 million in shared reward within 3 months.

“Our results represent Delta’s strongest March quarter financial and operational performance in over a decade and I want to thank Delta people worldwide for all the hard work that went into producing these results for our company.  This performance is proof that we are on the right path to making Delta the airline of choice for our shareholders, employees, and customers,” said Richard Anderson, Delta’s chief executive officer.

“With a solid financial foundation and building momentum from initiatives like our LaGuardia expansion, Virgin Atlantic investment and new Terminal 4 at New York-JFK, we are well positioned to generate significant improvements in Delta’s profitability going forward.”

According to Ed Bastian, Delta’s president; “Our March quarter units revenues grew 4 percent, showing that the investments we have made in operations, products and service, combined with our capacity discipline, have built a solid revenue-producing foundation.

“We are taking actions to mitigate the decline in close-in demand we saw in the last part of March, and we expect the impact of the sequester, combined with a softening of leisure demand, to result in a 2 – 3 percent decline in April’s unit revenues.

However, a key benefit from a consolidated industry is that we now see a much stronger correlation between revenue and fuel; so while we are seeing some revenue softness, we are also benefitting from lower fuel costs, allowing us to continue our path of margin expansion even in a sluggish economic environment’, Ed Bastian said.

Delta extremely  improved on its operational performance, resulting in an on-time arrival rate of 86.2 percent and 12 percent fewer customer complaints compared to 2012, while continuing the company’s ongoing investment in high-quality facilities through the renovation of LaGuardia Terminals C and D with the addition of a connecting bridge and improvements to the Delta Sky Clubs, seating areas and food options, and the development of the Sky Deck, new outdoor seating areas at Delta Sky Clubs in Atlanta and New York-JFK, designed in conjunction with Architectural Digest;

However, Delta Air Lines fuel expense for March quarter relinquish $78 million year over year, excluding mark to market adjustment, as a result of fuel prices and consumption. Operations at the Trainer refinery produced a $22 million loss driven by supply disruptions related to super storm Sandy and a short-term outage in gasoline production.

In addition, Delta has introduced new Fly Delta app for iPad and iPhone as part of a broader rollout of a significantly improved online and digital customer experience. The new Fly Delta app has added functionality and includes the unique “Glass Bottomed Jet” feature; and extending its involvement in community service, as more than 50 Delta employees partnered with SkyMiles Medallion members and Aeromexico employees to build six homes in Puebla, Mexico. This effort was Delta’s ninth international build with Habitat for Humanity.

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