DELTA AIR LINES, INC. 
By ATLANTA, Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today reported financial and operating performance for December 2012.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO )
For the month of December, Delta's unit revenues improved 4.0 percent versus prior year, driven by strong holiday demand, merchandising revenue growth and continued capacity discipline.
Delta's operating performance was solid in December. Delta's completion factor was 99.7 percent, and 85.4 percent of flights arrived on time.
The company's financial and operational performance is detailed below.
Preliminary Financial and Operational Results
---
December Consolidated PRASM
change year over year 4.0%
Projected December quarter fuel
price per gallon, adjusted $3.25
December On-time performance
(preliminary DOT A14) 85.4%
December Mainline completion
factor 99.7%
(Note: Fuel price includes taxes, transportation, settled hedges, and hedge premiums, but excludes mark to market adjustments on open hedges.)
Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. During the past year, Delta was named domestic "Airline of the Year" by the readers of Travel Weekly magazine, was named the "Top Tech-Friendly U.S. Airline" by PCWorld magazine for its innovation in technology, won the Business Travel News Annual Airline Survey and was the recipient of 12 Executive Travel Magazine Leading Edge Awards for U.S. airlines. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to nearly 318 destinations in 59 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. A founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance, Delta participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 13,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. The airline's service includes the SkyMiles frequent flier program, a world-class airline loyalty program; the award-winning BusinessElite service; and more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide. Delta is investing more than $3 billion through 2013 in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and review flight status at delta.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this investor update 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; risks related to the operation of an oil refinery by our wholly-owned subsidiary; the impact of posting collateral in connection with our fuel hedge contracts; the impact of significant funding obligations with respect to defined benefit pension plans; the impact that our indebtedness may 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; the ability of our credit card processors to take significant holdbacks in certain circumstances; the possible effects of accidents involving our aircraft; the effects of weather, natural disasters and seasonality on our business; the effects of an extended disruption in services provided by third party regional carriers; our ability to retain management and key employees; competitive conditions in the airline industry; the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses; and the effects of terrorist attacks.
Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2011 and our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2012. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of December 4, 2012, and which we have no current intention to update.
Monthly Traffic Results (a) Year to Date Traffic Results (a)
-------------------------- -------------------------------
Dec 2012 Dec 2011 Change Dec 2012 Dec 2011 Change
-------- -------- ------ -------- -------- ------
RPMs (000):
Domestic 8,745,943 8,817,212 (0.8%) 114,686,676 115,052,365 (0.3%)
Delta Mainline 7,043,828 6,968,483 1.1% 91,460,488 90,774,573 0.8%
Regional 1,702,115 1,848,729 (7.9%) 23,226,188 24,277,792 (4.3%)
International 6,009,971 5,870,936 2.4% 78,269,101 77,714,169 0.7%
Latin America 1,276,847 1,136,364 12.4% 13,776,769 13,037,423 5.7%
Delta Mainline 1,260,746 1,120,568 12.5% 13,609,919 12,831,075 6.1%
Regional 16,100 15,796 1.9% 166,849 206,348 (19.1%)
Atlantic 2,744,768 2,868,414 (4.3%) 39,917,925 41,466,247 (3.7%)
Pacific 1,988,356 1,866,158 6.5% 24,574,408 23,210,499 5.9%
Total System 14,755,913 14,688,148 0.5% 192,955,777 192,766,534 0.1%
ASMs (000):
Domestic 10,733,622 10,928,232 (1.8%) 136,478,775 138,304,905 (1.3%)
Delta Mainline 8,544,611 8,509,217 0.4% 107,172,576 107,406,751 (0.2%)
Regional 2,189,011 2,419,015 (9.5%) 29,306,199 30,898,154 (5.2%)
International 7,107,183 7,228,993 (1.7%) 93,920,846 96,351,242 (2.5%)
Latin America 1,537,193 1,423,894 8.0% 16,880,807 16,534,776 2.1%
Delta Mainline 1,516,779 1,400,701 8.3% 16,638,445 16,226,732 2.5%
Regional 20,414 23,193 (12.0%) 242,361 308,044 (21.3%)
Atlantic 3,240,902 3,502,292 (7.5%) 47,487,519 51,008,689 (6.9%)
Pacific 2,329,088 2,302,807 1.1% 29,552,520 28,807,777 2.6%
Total System 17,840,805 18,157,225 (1.7%) 230,399,620 234,656,147 (1.8%)
Load Factor:
Domestic 81.5% 80.7% 0.8 pts 84.0% 83.2% 0.8 pts
Delta Mainline 82.4% 81.9% 0.5 pts 85.3% 84.5% 0.8 pts
Regional 77.8% 76.4% 1.4 pts 79.3% 78.6% 0.7 pts
International 84.6% 81.2% 3.4 pts 83.3% 80.7% 2.6 pts
Latin America 83.1% 79.8% 3.3 pts 81.6% 78.8% 2.8 pts
Delta Mainline 83.1% 80.0% 3.1 pts 81.8% 79.1% 2.7 pts
Regional 78.9% 68.1% 10.8 pts 68.8% 67.0% 1.8 pts
Atlantic 84.7% 81.9% 2.8 pts 84.1% 81.3% 2.8 pts
Pacific 85.4% 81.0% 4.4 pts 83.2% 80.6% 2.6 pts
Total System 82.7% 80.9% 1.8 pts 83.7% 82.1% 1.6 pts
Mainline Completion 99.7% 99.8% (0.1) pts
Factor
Passengers Boarded 12,469,194 12,563,985 (0.8%) 164,571,529 163,838,348 0.4%
Cargo Ton Miles (000): 193,316 197,733 (2.2%) 2,383,295 2,370,472 0.5%
Endnote:
aResults include flights operated under contract carrier arrangements.
SOURCE Delta Air Lines
