DAL

Q1 2026 operating income fell $68M year-over-year to $501M despite a $1.8B total revenue gain, because operating expenses rose $1.9B (+14%), compressing margins. On an adjusted basis stripping out refinery pass-throughs, revenue grew 9.4% and CASM-Ex rose only 6%, so the airline-only unit economics held reasonably well — but the headline spread narrowed. Fuel was a meaningful headwind: jet fuel purchase price jumped 10% (mainly in March), and management explicitly flagged elevated costs persisting until 'recent market disruptions and geopolitical events are resolved,' while pilot pay increased 4% effective January 1 and broader employee base pay rose 4% in mid-2025, both flowing through the salary line. Premium products continue to be the dominant revenue driver — Ticket Premium grew 14% to $5.4B, nearly matching main cabin, on strong corporate demand domestically and across Atlantic; Latin America was the lone soft spot, with Mexican leisure demand offset by Caribbean/South America strength. The MRO business surged 152% in revenue (and 134% in expense) due to large engine scopes, though management guided this to normalize through the rest of 2026. American Express remuneration hit $2.2B in the quarter (+10% YoY), underscoring the loyalty flywheel's durability and cash generation quality. Non-operating results were the biggest earnings drag: total non-operating expense jumped from $249M to $715M, almost entirely from $550M in mark-to-market losses on equity investments versus $40M in the prior-year period — a purely accounting-driven hit that inflated the effective tax rate distortion and masked otherwise solid core performance. Interest expense declined $28M as debt reduction accelerated — $1.6B in Q1 payments including $1.2B of early refinancings at lower rates — and net debt continues to fall following ~$2.0B of paydown in 2025. Liquidity stands at $8.1B including $3.1B undrawn revolver capacity, free cash flow was $1.2B, and capital deployment is tilting toward fleet renewal: Delta signed orders for 30 B787-10s (deliveries from 2031), 31 widebody Airbus frames, and exercised options on 34 A321neos, with 2026 capex guided to ~$5.5B. The $1B buyback authorized in mid-2025 has seen zero utilization through quarter-end, while the quarterly dividend of $0.1875/share ($129M) was paid in March.

Delta Air Lines released its Q1 2026 (quarter ended March 31, 2026) earnings results via press release on April 8, 2026, furnished as Exhibit 99.1 under Item 2.02.

Delta executives presented at the J.P. Morgan Industrials Conference on March 17, 2026, with the investor presentation furnished as Exhibit 99.1 under Regulation FD (Item 7.01); the filing contains no new financial results or material corporate transactions.

Delta announced a C-suite reshuffle effective April 1, 2026: Peter Carter moves from Chief External Affairs Officer to President, Daniel Janki shifts from CFO to COO, and Erik Snell is elevated from Chief Customer Experience Officer to CFO. COO John Laughter will retire April 30, 2026 after a 30-year career.

Delta's principal accounting officer William C. Carroll is retiring effective March 31, 2026, and will be succeeded by Julia A. McConnell, currently at Delta since March 2025, who assumes the principal accounting officer role on April 1, 2026; she previously served as SVP and CAO at WestRock Company.

2025 operating revenue grew 3% to $63.4 billion, but operating income slipped $173 million to $5.8 billion as expense growth nearly matched the revenue lift. The revenue story is structurally bifurcated: premium cabin revenue rose 7% to $22.1 billion while main cabin declined 5% to $23.4 billion, with management explicitly attributing the weakness to 'industry-wide supply exceeding demand for main cabin travel in the uncertain economic environment.' Loyalty is a standout — American Express remuneration hit $8.2 billion, up 11%, and loyalty travel awards grew 10%; the SkyMiles program is increasingly a structural cash engine rather than a marketing adjunct. Pacific led geographic outperformance at +10% revenue on 9% capacity growth, driven by Japan and South Korea demand for premium products, while Latin America was flat and Atlantic grew modestly at 2%. On the cost side, the $1.9 billion increase in total operating expense was dominated by an $1.36 billion jump in salaries (5% and 4% sequential base pay increases plus pilot raises), partially offset by a $747 million fuel tailwind from a 9% decline in jet fuel market price. CASM was essentially flat at 19.31 cents, but CASM-Ex rose 2.4% to 13.86 cents — within the stated low-single-digit target — as wage inflation and customer experience investments outpaced capacity-driven dilution. The 2024 CrowdStrike outage created a roughly $550 million net year-over-year swing (approximately $380 million revenue drag and $170 million extra costs in 2024) that flattered 2025 comparisons, masking some underlying unit revenue pressure visible in TRASM, adjusted declining 1% to 19.56 cents. Below the operating line, non-operating results swung from a $1.3 billion expense in 2024 to $363 million of income in 2025, almost entirely due to mark-to-market gains on equity investments versus prior-year losses — a $1.53 billion swing that is not operationally recurring. Free cash flow was $4.6 billion; the balance sheet absorbed $4.8 billion in debt and finance lease payments including $2.9 billion of early repayments, and Delta refinanced the PSP1 government loan with lower-cost unsecured notes. Liquidity stood at $7.4 billion at year-end. The refinery segment turned in $157 million of operating income versus $38 million in 2024 on higher industry crack spreads, though RINs compliance costs surged to $312 million from $203 million, and the structural shift away from exchange agreements is converting notional barter volumes into reported third-party revenue and expense, inflating headline top-line and cost figures without economic substance.

Summary generating — check back in a moment.

Summary generating — check back in a moment.

Summary generating — check back in a moment.

Summary generating — check back in a moment.