Delta Air Lines more than halved operating losses in the first quarter of the year with increased revenue on the back of business travel returning close to pre-Covid levels.
Small and medium-sized business bookings fully recovered to 2019 volumes in the three months to March.
International corporate sales accelerated to about 90% of 2019 levels, excluding China.
US domestic corporate sales in the quarter were approximately 85% recovered.
A recent corporate survey by Delta indicated that 96% of companies expect their travel will increase or stay the same in the current quarter to June.
More: Doubt cast over business travel returning to pre-pandemic levels
New Delta service to take off from Heathrow to Los Angeles
Premium revenue growth continues to outpace the main cabin.
Delta president Glen Hauenstein said: “These results reflect the strength in the underlying demand environment and continued momentum in premium products and loyalty revenue.
“With record advance bookings for the summer, we expect June quarter revenue to be 15% to 17% higher on capacity growth of 17% year over year.”
His comments came as the carrier returned to Gatwick this week after 15 years with daily flights to New York JFK. A Los Angeles service from Heathrow was reintroduced for the first time since 2015 at the start of the summer schedule.
The Atlanta-based airline cut operating losses to $277 million from $783 million in the same three months in 2022 with revenue up by 36% to $12.8 billion. The pre-tax loss was more than halved year-on-year to $506 million from $1.2 billion.
Chief executive Ed Bastian said 2023 had got off to a “strong start”.
He added: “Delta is building momentum, with the best people in the industry generating nearly $5 billion of operating profit over the last 12 months.
“For the June quarter, we expect to deliver record revenue.
“With solid March quarter profitability and a strong outlook for the June quarter, we are confident in our full-year guidance for revenue growth of 15% to 20% year over year, earnings of $5 to $6 per share and free cash flow of over $2 billion.”
The airline paid out $563 million to staff in profit sharing in February for 2022 performance and gave a 5% pay rise to employees worldwide on April 1.
More: Doubt cast over business travel returning to pre-pandemic levels