Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE: DAL) reported record September quarter adjusted revenue of $17.6 billion on Oct. 9, 2026, an increase of 16% from a year earlier. The Atlanta company said the gain came on flat capacity, with demand and yield growth, meaning higher average fares per mile flown, driving the increase.
The record figure excludes $2.6 billion in sales from Delta's refinery subsidiary, Monroe Energy, to outside customers. Including those sales, operating revenue under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) was $20.2 billion, up 21% from the September 2025 quarter.
#Delta September Quarter Revenue Rises 16% on Flat Capacity
Premium cabin ticket revenue rose 18% to $6.8 billion, ahead of main cabin ticket revenue, which grew 12% to a similar $6.8 billion. Delta said premium seats increased 6% in the quarter, while main cabin seats declined by a low single-digit percentage.
Total loyalty revenue rose 18%, according to the company. Delta said payments from American Express, which issues its co-branded SkyMiles credit cards, grew 15% in the quarter, and it expects those payments to exceed $9 billion for the full year.
Cargo revenue increased 29% to $301 million. Delta said the gain was split roughly equally between higher shipping volumes and higher prices, though cargo remains a small part of the business at under 2% of adjusted revenue.
Domestic unit revenue, which measures passenger revenue earned for each seat flown one mile, rose 16% on regional revenue of $10.6 billion. Delta said its domestic planes were about one percentage point fuller than a year earlier.
International unit revenue rose 12%. Latin America led with a 22% increase, while the Atlantic region, Delta's largest international market at $3.3 billion in quarterly revenue, grew unit revenue 11%. Pacific revenue rose 13% as the airline added 8% more capacity on those routes.
#Delta’s Adjusted Fuel Expense Rises 62%
Adjusted fuel expense rose 62% to $4.1 billion. The average adjusted price Delta paid for jet fuel climbed 60% to $3.61 per gallon, compared with $2.25 a year earlier, partly offset by a 13 cent per gallon benefit from its own refinery.
On a GAAP basis, pre-tax income fell 40% to $1.1 billion, and net income dropped 47% to $756 million. Diluted earnings per share were $1.15, down from $2.17 in the September 2025 quarter.
On an adjusted basis, which Delta uses to exclude items it considers outside its core operations, pre-tax income rose 1% to $1.5 billion. Adjusted earnings were $1.72 per share, compared with $1.70 a year earlier, excluding a $218 million investment loss and $208 million in hedging adjustments.
"For the full year, we expect to generate a pre-tax profit of roughly $4.5 billion, absorbing a $6 billion increase in fuel costs," Ed Bastian, Chief Executive Officer, Delta, said in the earnings release. Delta's GAAP diluted earnings for the first nine months of 2026 were $3.15 per share, down from $5.80 a year earlier.
Chief Financial Officer Erik Snell said September quarter earnings were "in line with last year while absorbing more than $500 million of higher fuel costs compared to our guidance in early July."
Non-fuel unit costs, which track the cost of flying one seat one mile excluding fuel and certain other items, rose 7.3% to 14.03 cents. Delta attributed the increase mainly to higher crew and revenue-related costs, with capacity growth several points below its original plan.
Free cash flow, the cash left after capital spending, fell 44% to $463 million from $833 million a year earlier, as gross capital spending rose 27% to $1.4 billion. Delta said free cash flow for the first nine months of the year totaled $1.9 billion.
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#Delta Guides for 20% Revenue Growth and Plans $2 Billion Debt Paydown
Delta forecast December quarter adjusted revenue growth of about 20%, with an adjusted operating margin of 7% to 9% and adjusted earnings of $1.15 to $1.65 per share. The outlook assumes an all-in fuel price of about $4.25 per gallon, above the $3.61 adjusted price in the September quarter.
For comparison, Delta reported adjusted earnings of $1.55 per share in the December 2025 quarter. Delta lowered its full-year adjusted earnings forecast to $5.10 to $5.60 per share from $6.50 to $7.50 and reduced its free cash flow outlook to about $2.5 billion from $3 billion to $4 billion.
Delta said it plans to pay down more than $2 billion of debt in 2026 and end the year with gross leverage of about 2.2 times, a measure of adjusted debt relative to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and aircraft rent. Adjusted net debt stood at $13.4 billion at quarter end, down $950 million from the end of 2025.
Preliminary FlightStats data cited by the company showed Delta led a group of six airlines, including American, United, Southwest, JetBlue and Alaska, in on-time arrivals and departures from July 1 to Sept. 30, 2026.
The company's guidance depends on fuel prices tracking the Oct. 2 forward curve. Delta listed fuel price increases, fuel supply disruptions, labor issues, severe weather, competitive conditions and unfavorable economic conditions among the factors that could cause actual results to differ from its outlook.
Management said it remains on track for low-single-digit non-fuel unit cost growth in 2027 and projected about 20% revenue growth for the December quarter, though fuel prices, labor costs and broader economic conditions remain key risks to that outlook.