Delta Air Lines is cutting passenger capacity and curbing fleet and workforce growth in response to slowing demand for air travel and a broadly-souring economic outlook.
Chief executive Ed Bastian, during Delta’s 9 April quarterly earnings call, described the airline’s efforts as focusing on “protecting margins and free cash flow” and asserting that it is built to weather times of economic difficulty.
“February and March reflected a much more challenging macro-environment than anyone initially planned for,” he says. “Coming into 2025, we were positioned for another year of strong growth.
“However, given broad economic uncertainty around global trade, growth has largely stalled.”
Delta reports a $240 million first-quarter profit, compared with a $37 million profit during the same three months of last year.
First-quarter revenue increased 2% over the prior-year period, to more than $14 billion.
The major US carrier confirms that its business is feeling the effects of souring consumer sentiment, effectively scratching its prior financial performance expectations.
Bastian says that the slowdown is most apparent in the domestic market and Delta’s main cabins, noting “softness in both consumer and corporate travel”.
Delta is working to keep year-on-year capacity growth roughly flat in the year’s second half and says its fleet will grow by fewer than 10 aircraft “as we manage both retirements and deliveries”. Delta now plans to accelerate retirements of older Boeing 757s and 767s, as well as Airbus A319s and A320s.
“Lower growth and accelerated aircraft retirements will drive incremental maintenance savings,” says Delta’s chief financial officer Dan Janki. “Additionally, we are adjusting plans around our workforce and supplier base to align with lower growth levels for the full year.
“We now expect our workforce to be below levels of last year, on natural attrition.”
Delta’s guidance shows that second-quarter revenue is expected to range from down 2%, to up 2%, over the prior year. It expects to earn profits of between $1.5 billion and $2 billion in the second quarter.
Delta, the first major airline to report first-quarter results, is considered a bellwether of the US sector’s health. As the world economy scrambles to adjust to the uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration’s tariff policies, airlines, too, are watching warily for signs of slowing demand.