Delta Air Lines has this week announced its March 2024 quarter financial results, showcasing a strong revenue gain.
This article will cover the details surrounding Delta’s March 2024 quarter financial results and its future outlook.
Delta – March 2024 Quarter Results
For its March Quarter 2024 GAAP, Delta has achieved an operating revenue of $13.7 billion. This is with with an operating income of $617 million.
This saw an operating margin of 4.5% coupled with a pre-tax income and margin of $122 million at 0.9%. This saw the U.S. carrier’s earnings per share sit at $0.06 with an operating cash flow of $2.4 billion.
However, looking into the debt and leasing payments side, Delta paid $712 million this quarter. To which their outstanding debt and financial lease obligations now stand at $19.4 billion.
For its March Quarter 2024 Adjusted, Delta had an operating revenue of $12.6 billion. And an operating income of $640 million. This saw the U.S. carrier hold an operating margin of 5.1%.
However, their pre-tax income and margin sat at $380 million at 3%. This saw their earnings per share stand at $0.45 with an operating cash flow of $2.5 billion.
Delta’s free cash flow stands at $1.9 billion. In terms of debt, their adjusted debt to EBITDAR stands at 2.9x, which is down from 3.0x from 2023. Finally, their return on invested capital sat at 13.8% on a trailing five quarter average. This is up 2.8 percentage points over 2023.
Senior Comments
Commenting on their latest financial results, Delta’s Chief Executive Officer, Ed Bastian, says, “Thanks to the extraordinary work of our 100,000 people, Delta is delivering the best operational reliability in our history, and we have widened the gap to our competitors.”
“We were thrilled to recognize their efforts with $1.4 billion in profit sharing payouts during the quarter. For the March quarter, we delivered record revenue on outstanding operational performance, enabling strong earnings growth.”
“We anticipate continued strong momentum for our business, and in the June quarter, we expect to deliver record revenue, a mid-teens operating margin and earnings of $2.20 to $2.50 per share. We remain confident in our full year targets for earnings of $6 to $7 per share and free cash flow of $3 to $4 billion.”
Adding to Bastian’s comments, Delta’s President, Glen Hauenstein, adds, “We generated record March quarter revenues, 6 percent higher than the prior year. Total unit revenue (TRASM) was down 0.7 percent compared to last year, including a nearly one-point headwind from Cargo and MRO.”
“This result was at the high end of our guidance, with the growth rate improving three points from the December quarter. Strong demand for travel on Delta is continuing into the June quarter where we expect total revenue growth of 5 to 7 percent compared to the June quarter 2023 on TRASM of flat to down 2 percent.”
“Within this outlook, all geographic entities are expected to achieve unit revenue approximately flat to last year, except Latin, where we expect a double-digit decline as we lap strong performance and continue to profitably invest in the network.”
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