- Chidozie Uzoezie
Delta Reports Pre-tax Income of 1.6 Billion Dollars for 2Quarter 2018
Delta Air Lines on Wednesday reported financial results for the June quarter 2018. Highlights of the results, including both GAAP and adjusted metrics, are below and incorporated here.
Adjusted pre-tax income for the June quarter 2018 was $1.6 billion, a $183 million decrease from the June 2017 quarter, as record revenues partially offset the approximately $600 million impact of higher fuel prices.
Adjusted operating revenue of $11.6 billion for the June quarter improved 8% versus the prior year. This quarterly revenue result marks a record for the company, driven by improvements across Delta’s business, including double-digit increases in both cargo and loyalty revenue.
Total unit revenues excluding refinery sales increased 4.6% during the period driven by strong demand across all entities and improving yields. Foreign exchange drove a nearly one point benefit to the quarter.
Total adjusted operating expenses for the June quarter increased $1.1 billion versus the prior year quarter, with more than half of the increase driven by higher fuel prices.
Adjusted fuel expense increased by $578 million relative to June quarter 2017. Adjusted fuel price per gallon for the June quarter was $2.17, which includes $45 million of benefit from the refinery.
Delta generated $2.8 billion of operating cash flow and $1.4 billion of free cash flow during the quarter, after the investment of $1.4 billion into the business primarily for aircraft purchases and improvements.
For the June quarter, Delta returned $813 million to shareholders, comprised of $600 million of share repurchases and $213 million in dividends.
Delta serves over 180 million customers each year. In 2018, it was named to Fortune’s top 50 Most Admired Companies in addition to being named the most admired airline.
