Delta Airlines sees cargo revenues soar 14.4% in Q4

Cargo revenues reached $200 million, while traffic rose 7.1 percent for the quarter.    Delta Airlines increased cargo revenues 14.4 percent for the fourth quarter of 2017 compared to the same period in 2016, driven by higher volumes and yields, the airline announced.
   Cargo revenues reached $200 million for the fourth quarter, while overall adjusted pre-tax income for the quarter totaled $1 billion, despite a $60 million impact from the combination of December’s power outage at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and Winter Storm Benji.
   The airline’s cargo traffic for the fourth quarter soared 7.1 percent year-over-year to 542 million cargo ton miles, while for the full year, cargo traffic rose 8.6 percent year-over-year to 2.1 billion cargo ton miles.
   “Delta people rose to the challenges of 2017 to produce solid financial results, industry leading operational reliability and strong improvements in customer satisfaction, and it’s an honor to recognize their achievements with $1.1 billion in profit sharing,” said Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executive officer. “Looking ahead to 2018, we expect to drive solid earnings growth by growing our top line 4 to 6 percent, improving our cost trajectory and integrating our international partner network. As a result, we are able to increase our previous full-year guidance to $6.35 to $6.70 per share due to additional benefits from tax reform.”
   Going into 2018, Delta is expecting improved revenues and the benefit from tax reform to partially offset fuel cost increases and the period of highest non-fuel expense growth for the year, the airline said.