Delta Says Hurricane Irma Cost it US$120 Million

October 3, 2017

Delta Air Lines put the cost of Hurricane Irma at USD$120 million in its operating performance report for September.

Irma affected Delta’s operations with 2,200 flights cancelled between September 7 and 12, as the Category 5 hurricane hit airports in the Caribbean, Florida and Georgia.

The Atlanta-based airline trimmed its operating margin forecast by one percentage point to between 15.5 and 16.5 percent as a result of the storm.

Delta carried 14.6 million passengers during September, a 2.3 percent fall from the same month last year. System capacity in available seat miles (ASM) terms grew 0.6 percent, but revenue passenger miles (RPM) traffic was up by only 0.3 percent in the month. The resulting load factor was down 0.2 percentage points at 84.4 percent.

Cargo, in comparison, saw a healthy boost, up 9.4 percent at 187.2 million tons carried in September.

(Airwise)