DELTA AIR LINES, INC. 
By ATLANTA, Jan. 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today reported financial and operating performance for December 2013.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO )
Consolidated passenger unit revenue (PRASM) for the month of December increased 10.0 percent year over year driven by continuing strong demand and benefits from the timing of the Thanksgiving holiday.
Delta completed 99.6 percent of its flights in December and ran an on-time arrival rate of 79.5 percent.
The company's financial and operating performance is detailed below.
Preliminary Financial and Operating Results
-------------------------------------------
December consolidated PRASM
change year over year 10.0%
Projected December quarter fuel
price per gallon, adjusted $3.00 - $3.05
December mainline completion
factor 99.6%
December on-time performance
(preliminary DOT A14) 79.5%
Note: Fuel price includes taxes, transportation, settled hedges, hedge premiums and refinery impact, but excludes mark to market adjustments on open hedges.
Delta Air Lines serves nearly 165 million customers each year. Delta was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2013 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list, topping the list for the second time in three years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 322 destinations in 59 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia as well as a newly formed joint venture with Virgin Atlantic. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta is investing more than $3 billion in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta, Facebook.com/delta and Delta's blog takingoff.delta.com.
Forward Looking Statements
Statements in this press release that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections or strategies for the future, may be "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections and strategies reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the cost of aircraft fuel; the availability of aircraft fuel; the impact of posting collateral in connection with our fuel hedge contracts; the impact of significant funding obligations with respect to defined benefit pension plans; the impact that our indebtedness may have on our financial and operating activities and our ability to incur additional debt; the restrictions that financial covenants in our financing agreements will have on our financial and business operations; labor issues; interruptions or disruptions in service at one of our hub airports; our dependence on technology in our operations; disruptions or security breaches of our information technology infrastructure; the ability of our credit card processors to take significant holdbacks in certain circumstances; the possible effects of accidents involving our aircraft; the effects of weather, natural disasters and seasonality on our business; the effects of an extended disruption in services provided by third party regional carriers; failure or inability of insurance to cover a significant liability at the Trainer refinery; the impact of environmental regulation on the Trainer refinery, including costs related to renewable fuel standard regulations; our ability to retain management and key employees; our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income; competitive conditions in the airline industry; the effects of extensive government regulation on our business; the effects of terrorist attacks; the effects of the rapid spread of contagious illnesses; and the costs associated with insurance.
Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2012 and our quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2013. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements, which represent our views only as of January 3, 2014, and which we have no current intention to update.
Monthly Traffic Results (a) Year to Date Traffic Results (a)
-------------------------- -------------------------------
Dec 2013 Dec 2012 Change Dec 2013 Dec 2012 Change
-------- -------- ------ -------- -------- ------
RPMs (000):
Domestic 9,434,131 8,745,715 7.9% 114,652,740 114,692,138 (0.0%)
Delta Mainline 7,673,560 7,043,866 8.9% 92,789,089 91,468,660 1.4%
Regional 1,760,571 1,701,849 3.5% 21,863,651 23,223,478 (5.9%)
International 6,353,075 6,016,864 5.6% 80,317,771 78,281,985 2.6%
Latin America 1,483,980 1,276,849 16.2% 15,351,889 13,778,843 11.4%
Delta Mainline 1,458,639 1,260,747 15.7% 15,148,208 13,611,910 11.3%
Regional 25,341 16,102 57.4% 203,681 166,933 22.0%
Atlantic 2,840,965 2,750,470 3.3% 40,233,076 39,920,372 0.8%
Pacific 2,028,130 1,989,545 1.9% 24,732,806 24,582,770 0.6%
Total System 15,787,206 14,762,579 6.9% 194,970,511 192,974,123 1.0%
ASMs (000):
Domestic 11,113,796 10,733,406 3.5% 137,989,838 136,485,550 1.1%
Delta Mainline 8,912,988 8,544,611 4.3% 109,718,045 107,184,875 2.4%
Regional 2,200,808 2,188,795 0.5% 28,271,793 29,300,675 (3.5%)
International 7,406,168 7,107,183 4.2% 94,745,955 93,929,889 0.9%
Latin America 1,740,271 1,537,193 13.2% 18,279,674 16,883,549 8.3%
Delta Mainline 1,709,566 1,516,779 12.7% 18,019,064 16,641,107 8.3%
Regional 30,705 20,414 50.4% 260,610 242,442 7.5%
Atlantic 3,314,170 3,240,902 2.3% 47,167,218 47,485,424 (0.7%)
Pacific 2,351,727 2,329,088 1.0% 29,299,063 29,560,916 (0.9%)
Total System 18,519,964 17,840,589 3.8% 232,735,793 230,415,439 1.0%
Load Factor:
Domestic 84.9% 81.5% 3.4 pts 83.1% 84.0% (0.9) pts
Delta Mainline 86.1% 82.4% 3.7 pts 84.6% 85.3% (0.7) pts
Regional 80.0% 77.8% 2.2 pts 77.3% 79.3% (2.0) pts
International 85.8% 84.7% 1.1 pts 84.8% 83.3% 1.5 pts
Latin America 85.3% 83.1% 2.2 pts 84.0% 81.6% 2.4 pts
Delta Mainline 85.3% 83.1% 2.2 pts 84.1% 81.8% 2.3 pts
Regional 82.5% 78.9% 3.6 pts 78.2% 68.9% 9.3 pts
Atlantic 85.7% 84.9% 0.8 pts 85.3% 84.1% 1.2 pts
Pacific 86.2% 85.4% 0.8 pts 84.4% 83.2% 1.2 pts
Total System 85.2% 82.7% 2.5 pts 83.8% 83.8% 0.0 pts
Mainline Completion Factor 99.6% 99.7% (0.1) pts
Passengers Boarded 13,360,396 12,469,381 7.1% 164,656,327 164,591,330 0.0%
Cargo Ton Miles (000): 189,230 192,697 (1.8%) 2,350,971 2,385,084 (1.4%)
a Results include flights operated under contract carrier arrangements
Non-GAAP Reconciliation
Delta sometimes uses information ("non-GAAP financial measures") that is derived from our Consolidated Financial Statements, but that is not presented in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the U.S. ("GAAP"). Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rules, non-GAAP financial measures may be considered in addition to results prepared in accordance with GAAP, but should not be considered a substitute for or superior to GAAP results.
Delta excludes mark-to-market adjustments for fuel hedges recorded in periods other than the settlement period ("MTM adjustments") from average price per fuel gallon because excluding these adjustments allows investors to better understand and analyze Delta's costs for the periods reported. MTM adjustments are based on market prices as of the end of the reporting period for contracts settling in future periods. Such market prices are not necessarily indicative of the actual future value of the underlying hedge in the contract settlement period.
Average Fuel Price Per Gallon
-----------------------------
(Projected)
Three Months
Ended,
Consolidated December 31,
2013
--------------- -------------
Average price per fuel gallon $2.89 to $2.94
MTM adjustments 0.11
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Average price per fuel gallon, adjusted $3.00 to $3.05
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SOURCE Delta Air Lines
