Delta Airlines became the first of the main airlines in the United States to release its financial results for the second quarter of 2021 and figures showed that after 5 quarters of losses since the impacts of the pandemic in early 2020, the US aviation returns to register quarterly gains in passenger transport.
Between April and June, Delta had a net income of 652 million dollars (GAAP), helped in large part by the 1.5 billion dollars in aid from the US government under the payroll support program. Adjusted results, which exclude this amount and other income, gave a loss of USD 678 million.
The first positive value after more than 1 year of losses represents a recovery of 45.2% in relation to the gains registered in the corresponding quarter before the Covid-19 crisis in which the net profit was USD 1,443 million.
Delta’s net earnings sequence (GAAP) from the last positive quarter, to the end of 2019, was as follows:
| Year | Quarter | Gain / Lost | US $ million |
| 2019 | Fourth | Gain | 1.099 |
| 2020 | First | Lost | 534 |
| 2020 | Second | Lost | 5,717 |
| 2020 | Third | Lost | 5,379 |
| 2020 | Fourth | Lost | 755 |
| 2021 | First | Lost | 1,177 |
| 2021 | Second | Gain | 652 |
The company’s revenues in the second quarter reached USD 7.1 billion, 43% lower than the same period in 2019. Ticket sales totaled USD 5.339 million, a 53% drop. With sales of USD 485 million, the Latin American market was the one with the greatest recovery, reaching levels of 64% compared to the second quarter of 2019.
According to Delta, domestic leisure travel has fully recovered to 2019 levels and there are encouraging signs of improvement in business and international travel.
“With the recovery gathering momentum, we are making investments to support our industry-leading operation. We are also acquiring aircraft opportunistically and creating upward flexibility to accelerate the restoration of our capacity in 2022,» said Ed Bastian, CEO of the company.
«With the growing demand for air travel, adjusted operating income for the June quarter improved 76% compared to the March quarter. The increase in customer engagement is evident with spending on credit cards already exceeding 2019 levels,» said Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s president. He added, «I am excited to see this momentum continue into the September quarter as business travel recovers and international markets continue to reopen.»
