Delta Records First Loss in Five Years Amidst Coronavirus Pandemic

Delta Air Lines announced financial results for the first quarter of 2020, reporting a loss of $534 million, down $1.3 billion from the $730 million profit in same period in 2019.

The Atlanta-based company was the first major airline to report the financial impact of the beginnings of the coronavirus outbreak, which started to have an impact on travel in late January.

Excluding special items, the loss for the quarter was $326 million, versus a profit of $639 million in the same period in 2019.

“These are truly unprecedented times for all of us, including the airline industry,” said the airline’s CEO, Ed Bastian, who added that “government travel restrictions and stay-at-home orders have been effective in slowing the spread of the virus, but have also severely impacted near-term demand for air travel, reducing our expected June quarter revenues by 90%, compared to a year ago.”

While passenger revenue fell in all sectors, the decline was the greatest in the airline’s Pacific division, where it fell 33.3%, followed by a 23.8% decline in its Atlantic division, a 16.9% drop in domestic traffic, and an 11.2% drop in Latin America.

The airline said it is making “significant” capacity reductions for the second quarter versus the prior year with scheduled total system capacity to be down 8%, including domestic down by 80% and international capacity down by 90%.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)