Delta Air Lines Flight Museum in Atlanta, Ga.
Leslie Josephs/CNBC
Delta Air Lines forecast a better-than-expected end to 2025 and a strong start to next year thanks to rising airfares and resilient luxury travel demand.
The airline on Thursday projected adjusted earnings of between $1.60 and $1.90 a share for the fourth quarter, compared with the $1.65 per share analysts polled by LSEG were expecting. Revenue in the last three months of the year will grow as much as 4%, Delta said, above the 1.7% Wall Street expects.
“Looking to 2026, Delta is well positioned to deliver top-line growth, margin expansion and earnings improvement consistent with our long-term financial framework,” CEO Ed Bastian said in an earnings release.
Delta’s outlook points to improved demand and less of a surplus of flights that pushed domestic fares and revenue down at airlines this year, particularly early in 2025 when consumer confidence was rattled in the early stages of President Donald Trump‘s tariffs.
“Starting in July, cash sales picked up,” Bastian said in an interview.
The Atlanta-based carrier is the first of the major airlines to report results this quarter. Its shares were up about 4% in afternoon trading.
Here’s how the company performed in the third quarter, compared with what Wall Street was expecting, based on consensus estimates from LSEG:
- Earnings per share: $1.71 adjusted vs. $1.53 expected
- Revenue: $15.2 billion adjusted vs. $15.06 billion expected
Premium outshines coach
Delta’s third-quarter profit rose 11% to $1.42 billion, or $2.17 a share, up from $1.27 billion, or $1.97 a share, a year earlier. Adjusting for one-time items, including investment-related adjustments, its profit climbed 15% to $1.12 billion, or $1.71 a share, ahead of analyst estimates.
Adjusted revenue rose 4% year over year.
Premium travel demand continued to outshine the coach cabin. Revenue from the high-end segment, which includes first class and roomier economy seats, increased 9% in the third quarter to nearly $5.8 billion, while main cabin revenue fell 4% to about $6 billion.
Bastian said there were no signs of a consumer pullback for premium products. Delta’s president, Glen Hauenstein, reiterated that revenue from the airline’s upmarket options like first class is on track to eclipse main cabin sales next year.
Delta and other carriers have culled unprofitable or less profitable flights such as those during unpopular midweek travel days to help stem an oversupply of seats in the market. That surplus of capacity along with shifting consumer habits and higher costs has made previously slam dunk summer profits more elusive for some U.S. carriers.
Domestic unit revenue rose 2% in the third quarter at the carrier on a 4% increase in capacity, and Delta forecast it would remain positive year over year in the current quarter. Stronger corporate travel demand helped to drive a 5% increase in overall domestic passenger revenue in the third quarter.
Delta said it expects adjusted, full-year earnings per share of $6, at the upper end of the $5.25 to $6.25 it forecast for 2025 in July.
When asked about the federal government shutdown, Bastian told CNBC that the airline hasn’t seen “any impacts at all” to its operation in recent days, but that if it continues for 10 more days or so, that could change.
