Delta Hits New Record Highs on Robust Travel Demand

Delta Air Lines (DAL:US) shares surged to new record highs on Thursday after the airline said it has continued to experience robust demand for air travel.

In the earnings report for its second fiscal quarter, Delta said it made a profit of $2.68 per share on revenue of $14.61 billion, ahead of the Street analysts that were looking for adjusted EPS of $2.41 on revenue of $14.44 billion. 

Sales surged 19% year-over-year, while passenger load factor (a metric used in the airline industry that measures the percentage of available seating capacity that has been filled with passengers) came in at 88%, better than the expected 86.7%.

Available seat miles rose 17% YoY to 69 billion while revenue passenger miles came in at 60.8 billion, again above the Street at 59.3 billion.

"Consumer demand for air travel remains robust," CEO Ed Bastian said in a press release. Delta’s President Glen Hauenstein said that "robust demand is continuing into the September quarter.”

Following another set of strong quarterly numbers, Delta said it now sees FQ3 adjusted earnings of $2.20 - $2.50 per share, above the expected $2.06. Revenue growth for the current quarter is seen in the range of 11% - 14%.

Hence, the full-year guidance now calls for EPS of $6 to $7, above the prior guidance of $5 to $6.

Congress members Ro Khanna and Daniel Goldman were trading DAL shares earlier this year.