Delta Air Lines' corporate demand and sales increased during the fourth quarter of last year and the carrier anticipates that trajectory will continue into the first quarter of 2025.
The US airline’s president Glen Hauenstein also highlighted Delta’s transatlantic routes for their “outstanding performance”, during an earnings call with analysts last week.
Hauenstein noted that during the off-peak winter season, it's been "really, really strong, not only advanced bookings, but close-end business travel going in the transatlantic has been incredibly strong”.
He said that overall corporate sales were up by 10 per cent in Q4 compared with the same quarter at the end of 2023.
"Strength built through the quarter - driven by both volume and fare - with broad-based strength geographically and across all sectors. Those trends are continuing into the first quarter,” continued Hauenstein.
Delta often polls corporate travel managers in the weeks leading up to its quarterly calls, and Hauenstein said that in the carrier's most recent survey, "90 per cent expected to exceed or meet last year's spend”.
The airline’s share of corporate travel volume has also been "at or near record highs every month," said Hauenstein.
His comments came as Delta reported fourth-quarter revenue of nearly $15.6 billion, up by 9 per cent year-on-year, with passenger revenue rising by 5 per cent to $12.8 billion.
The airline’s full-year revenue for 2024 was more than $61.6 billion, up by 6 per cent from 2023, with passenger revenue up 4 per cent to $50.9 billion over the same period.
Delta’s fourth-quarter net income was $843 million compared with more than $2 billion in Q4 of 2023 due to non-operating expenses. Full-year net income was nearly $3.5 billion, down by around 25 per cent from 2023.