Delta Air reports pretax revenue shortfall of $11bn

Delta Air Lines in its financial statement ended June 30, 2020, recorded a decline of $3.9 billion adjusted pre-tax loss for the June quarter on a more than $11 billion drop in revenue over last year.

The firm in the report outlined its continued response to COVID-19, with an illustration of the truly staggering impact of the global pandemic on its business.

Commenting on the latest report, the Airline Chief Executive Officer, Ed Bastian said, “In the face of this challenge, our people have acted quickly and decisively to protect our customers and our company, reducing our average daily cash burn by more than 70 per cent since late March to $27 million in the month of June”.

“Given the combined effects of the pandemic and associated financial impact on the global economy, we continue to believe that it will be more than two years before we see a sustainable recovery. In this difficult environment, the strengths that are core to Delta’s business – our people, our brand, our network and our operational reliability – guide every decision we make, differentiating Delta with our customers and positioning us to succeed when demand returns.”

June quarter financial result shows the adjusted pre-tax loss of $3.9 billion excludes $3.2 billion of items directly related to the impact of COVID-19 and the company’s response, including fleet-related restructuring charges, write-downs related to certain of Delta’s equity investments and the benefit of the CARES Act grant recognized in the quarter

Total adjusted revenue of $1.2 billion, which excludes refinery sales, declined 91 per cent versus prior year on system capacity reduction of 85 percent compared to the prior year

Total operating expense decreased $4.1 billion over the prior year. Total adjusted operating expense decreased $5.5 billion or 53 per cent in the June quarter compared to the prior year, driven by lower capacity- and revenue-related expenses and strong cost management throughout the business at the end of the June quarter, the company had $15.7 billion in liquidity.