Delta Air Lines reported third-quarter earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street’s expectations, but the airline warned of higher costs ahead in the last quarter of the year.
Delta’s net income slipped 6 percent to $1.18 billion, or $1.64 a share in the three months ended in September.
On an adjusted basis, the largest U.S. airline by market capitalization reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.57, beating Thomson Reuters analysts’ expectations of $1.53 a share for a quarter that ended with hurricanes that crippled operations.
Shares were up 1.7 percent in premarket trading.
Delta’s per share earnings on an adjusted basis were about 8 percent lower over the year-earlier period.
The airline posted quarterly revenue of $11.06 billion, slightly higher than expectations for $11.03 billion in the three months ended in September and up 6 percent from a year earlier.
Delta’s passenger revenue per available seat mile "” a key income metric "” rose 1.9 percent, in line with the airline’s updated forecast earlier last month. It said it expects a 2 percent to 4 percent increase in passenger unit revenue in the fourth quarter, but warned that higher fuel costs would likely crimp operating margins for the last three months of the year.
Delta posted higher revenue in domestic and Latin American and trans-Atlantic operations, despite powerful storms in the Southern U.S. in August and September.
Hurricane Irma, which struck Florida and Delta’s hub in Atlanta, forced the airline to cancel more than 2,000 flights…
