DELTA AIR LINES, INC. recently released its latest 10-Q report. The company provides scheduled passenger and cargo air transportation in the United States and abroad, along with aircraft maintenance and engineering services and vacation packages. Its operations are organized into Airline and Refinery segments, and it reported a fleet of about 1,314 aircraft, with major hubs in Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Salt Lake City, Boston, Los Angeles, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Seattle, and international hubs including Amsterdam, Bogota, Lima, Mexico City, London-Heathrow, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Seoul-Incheon, and Tokyo.
In the September 2026 quarter, Delta said operating income fell to $1.5 billion from $1.73 billion a year earlier, a decline of $230 million. Total operating revenue rose to $20.19 billion from $16.67 billion, up $3.51 billion, while total operating expense climbed to $18.73 billion from $14.99 billion, up $3.74 billion.
Passenger revenue increased to $15.53 billion from $13.51 billion, up $2.03 billion, led by premium ticket revenue of $6.82 billion, main cabin revenue of $6.80 billion, and loyalty travel awards revenue of $1.30 billion. Cargo revenue rose 29% to $301 million, while other revenue jumped 48% to $4.35 billion, including refinery revenue of $2.60 billion, loyalty and related revenue of $1.35 billion, and MRO revenue of $296 million.
On a regional basis, domestic passenger revenue rose 16% to $10.59 billion on flat capacity, with domestic RPMs up 16% and load factor unchanged. Atlantic passenger revenue increased 11% to $3.32 billion, Latin America rose 14% to $867 million, and Pacific revenue increased 13% to $756 million.
Operating costs were pushed higher by fuel and labor. Salaries and related costs increased 9% to $4.82 billion, aircraft fuel and related taxes surged 69% to $4.35 billion, and refinery expense rose 76% to $2.60 billion. Contracted services increased 10% to $1.28 billion, landing fees and other rents rose 11% to $1.02 billion, and depreciation and amortization increased 10% to $673 million.
Delta said its total operating cost per available seat mile increased 25%, while CASM-Ex rose 7.3%. Non-operating expense was $380 million, compared with income of $93 million a year earlier, as mark-to-market losses on equity investments replaced prior-year gains. Interest expense, net fell to $146 million from $171 million.
For the nine months ended September 30, total operating revenue reached $55.80 billion, up from $47.36 billion, an increase of $8.44 billion. Passenger revenue climbed to $43.44 billion from $38.85 billion, while other revenue rose to $11.53 billion from $7.86 billion, including refinery revenue of $6.35 billion and loyalty and related revenue of $3.91 billion.
Nine-month operating expense increased to $51.98 billion from $43.01 billion. Fuel and related taxes rose to $11.20 billion from $7.44 billion, salaries and related costs increased to $14.12 billion from $12.93 billion, and refinery expense climbed to $6.35 billion from $3.68 billion. Profit sharing declined to $882 million from $986 million.
Delta generated $1.7 billion of operating cash flow in the quarter, spent $1.3 billion on investing activities, and reported free cash flow of $463 million. It also recorded $1.2 billion of cash outflows for debt and finance lease repayments. Liquidity at September 30, 2026 was $6.9 billion. As a result of these announcements, the company's shares have moved 0.04% on the market, and are now trading at a price of $82.17. If you want to know more, read the company's complete 10-Q report here.
