Delta First Quarter Profit Up 27 Percent

Delta Air Lines reported first-quarter net income up 27 percent and indicated it may cut capacity after the summer if necessary to stop a decline in unit revenue.

Delta earned USD$946 million in the first quarter, up 27 percent from USD$746 million in the same period last year.

Delta's sales still face pressure though. The Atlanta-based company forecast that passenger revenue as measured against flight capacity would decline by between 2.5 and 4.5 percent in the second quarter, although that would be less steep than the 4.6 percent drop in the first quarter.

"We are focused on getting unit revenues back to a positive trajectory, and we will make adjustments to… capacity levels if we are not making sufficient progress over the coming months," incoming President Glen Hauenstein said in a news release.

The weakness of currencies against the US dollar lowered Delta's first-quarter sales by USD$125 million from a year earlier. The closure of Brussels' main airport after the March 22 attacks also chopped USD$5 million off revenue, which in total declined 1.5 percent, Delta said.

Delta said costs as measured against flight capacity, excluding fuel, rose 4.5 percent in the first quarter, due largely to an additional USD$136 million in profit-sharing for employees. It expects the measure to rise less than 2 percent for 2016.