DELTA AIR LINES says that its transatlantic services made a modest profit for the year to the end of September, marking the first profitable year since the group acquired the transatlantic operations of Pan American World Airways in 1991.
The result was assisted by a record performance in the September quarter, when the US airline posted an operating profit of $77 million on the transatlantic, up from only $27 million a year ago.
Delta says that transatlantic operations turned a modest operating profit of $7 million for the full financial year. The return to profitability, which comes a year earlier than envisaged under the airline's Project Europe plan, was helped by the airline's aggressive cost-reduction and marketing programmes, says chief executive Ron Allen.
The carrier's yields per available seat were up by around 14% on transatlantic services over the year, while operating costs increased by just 0.4%.
Source: Flight International
