Delta Air Lines November Traffic Rises; Sees Q4 EPS At High-end Of Prior Range

(RTTNews) - Delta Air Lines (DAL) reported that its traffic in November 2018 increased 4.2% from November 2017, on a capacity increase of 3.8%.

The airline said its traffic for the month rose 4.2% to 16.83 billion revenue passenger miles or RPMs from 16.16 billion RPMs in the same period last year.

Monthly capacity was 19.62 billion available seat miles or ASMs, up 3.8% from 18.91 billion ASMs in the prior year period.

Total System Load factor for the month was 85.8%, up 0.4 points from 85.4% reported last year.

For the fourth-quarter, Delta expects to generate earnings per share at the high-end of the company's $1.10 - $1.30 guidance range. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $1.22 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. The company expects approximately 7.5% top-line growth (excluding third party refinery sales) on an approximately 3.5% year over year increase in unit revenue.