reddog25

Were his lips moving?....never trust RA

Bill Lumberg

UPDATE 3-Delta expects higher revenue in third quarter
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Delta Air Lines, Inc.
DAL.N
$11.18
+0.51
12:00pm MST
Tue Sep 14, 2010 4:10pm EDT

* Delta projects rising Q3 unit revenue

* Q3 operating margin forecast raised

* Shares up 5 pct (Adds analyst comment, previous margin view)

ATLANTA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) said on Tuesday it expected higher unit revenue for the third quarter as travel demand continues to show signs of rebounding, and its shares rose more than 5 percent.

The world's biggest airline said in a federal filing that it expected passenger revenue per available seat mile, an important measure, to rise 15 percent for the quarter. In the 2009 third quarter, that metric declined 18 percent amid lower international and corporate demand.

"Things are getting better," said Morningstar analyst Basili Alukos, who added that Delta and other airlines have reduced their costs.

Atlanta-based Delta also projected operating margin, excluding profit-sharing expenses, of 12 percent to 13 percent for the quarter. That compares with its estimate of as much as 12 percent forecast in July for the third period and operating margin of 11.4 percent reported for the second quarter, when savings from the 2008 acquisition of Northwest Airlines partly offset profit sharing and other costs.

The forecast unit revenue growth "suggests that demand -- particularly in September -- is tracking better than expected," JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker said in a note to clients.

Some analysts raised their profit estimates for Delta for the third quarter. Analysts on average expect 90 cents a share for the period, compared with profit of 6 cents a share for the year earlier, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

At Delta, load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, is seen at 83 percent for September and 86 percent for the third quarter, consistent with a year earlier, the carrier added in its Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Airlines are beginning to recover after two years of decreased travel demand. Capacity cuts have allowed carriers to trim costs and lift air fares.

Delta also said it expected special items in the third quarter tied to merger expenses and costs to reduce the size of the airplane fleet at its Comair regional subsidiary [ID:nN01154249].

Delta shares were up 4.8 percent to $11.18 in afternoon New York Stock Exchange trading. Other airline stocks were also up and the Arca Airline index .XAL gained 1.7 percent. (Reporting by Karen Jacobs; additional reporting by Deepa Seetharaman in New York and Kyle Peterson in Chicago; editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Dave Zimmerman and Andre Grenon)

johnso29

HTF do you have a surplus bid when you're hiring and have 150+ unfilled vacancies?

Jughead

Meh...happy to see we're making money. Glad to get a check sometime next year.
I'll be even happier when I'm still not getting paid bankruptcy wages years after bankruptcy emergence.

Gunfighter

The SLC 767 is a surplus. The remainder, including SLC 7ER is the AE. It's a combined AE & surplus.

acl65pilot

Nu;
A surplus is a displacement. SLC 767 is being surplussed and they are entitling the SLC 7ER. In a effect a net change of zero.

They can opt to surplus positions like they did two and three bids ago without shutting a category down. In effect reducing staffing in a jet where you end up with displacements off a seat.

The company can add more seats on an AE than are on the bid. They cannot displace more though.

I do beleive that the guidance going forward for our economy is mixed. There is a possible of some softening demand, but if that does not occur they will need bodies.

I say wait and see what the delay is for.

NuGuy

When you had your team decipher the new rest rules and figured out you're fat 1000 pilots on the international aircraft....

Nu

Bill Lumberg

The rules won't go into effect until 2013, and I think our PWA or contract has protections already built in on a lot of the rules, which are more restrictive that what is currently proposed.

MoonShot

Is the extension of the AE in celebration of football season being back, sorta like icing the kicker? The first AE I'm really curious how my bid is going to turn out and now they delay it a week. Another week for senior folks who forgot to bid to get their stuff in and keep the junior guys on the mat I say!

newKnow

Rumor from one of the wigs on the other thread is that the delay is because some people were told they had a training freeze when they didn't.

My thoughts: Really?