Fasten your seatbelts, we’re getting ready for takeoff.
Delta (DAL) has been making some news lately as the world’s largest airline by revenue resumed daily nonstop service to Tel Aviv from New York’s JFK airport earlier this month.
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The Atlanta-based air carrier suspended service to Israel in October after the Israel-Hamas war began in October
At the time, Delta, American Airlines, and United Airlines stopped service as the U.S. State Department issued travel advisories for the region, citing the potential for terrorism and civil unrest.
Delta said in a statement that it continues to monitor the situation in Israel closely in conjunction with government and private-sector partners.
The airline made a codeshare agreement with EL AL Israel Airlines late last year that allows Delta customers to use El AL’s direct services from New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Miami, and Fort Lauderdale.
Delta Air Lines airplanes are seen next to each other on an airport tarmac.
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Delta plans new routes, including at Reagan National Airport
United Airlines (UAL) resumed flights to Israel earlier this month from Newark but does not plan to restart flights from other U.S. cities until at least this fall.
On June 6, Delta said it would apply for a new flight between Seattle and Washington Reagan National Airport.
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The announcement came after President Joe Biden signed legislation creating the new flights at the busy airport in Arlington, Virginia, on May 16, Reuters reported.
The law requires the U.S. Transportation Department to award the new flights by mid-July.
The Washington region has three major airports, but Reagan National is the closest to the U.S. Capitol and downtown.
Due to the facility’s short runways, the main runway is the busiest in the United States, and Reagan is the 23rd-busiest U.S. airport by passengers.
If Delta is successful, it will compete with Alaska Airlines (ALK) , which operates the two current daily flights from Seattle to Reagan National.
“The addition of this flight will bring much-needed competition to a route with some of the highest ticket prices in the country,” Delta said.
For more than a year, Delta lobbied for the change – and had pushed for adding far more daily flights – while United Airlines opposed it.
And speaking of flights, the airline said it plans to fly its “largest ever domestic ski schedule” starting Dec. 21, which will include more flights from Los Angeles than ever.
Delta said it will launch daily nonstop service from L.A. to Jackson Hole and a new Saturday service to Sun Valley, Idaho.
The airline said additional service to ski destinations throughout the West will benefit travelers in Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Salt Lake City.
Analyst adjusts Delta stock forecast
In April, the airline reported first-quarter earnings of 45 cents a share, up from $217 million, up 75% from a year earlier and beating Wall Street analysts’ consensus forecast of 36 cents a share.
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Revenue totaled $12.6 billion, up 6% from a year ago and marking a record for the first three months of the year.
“We are delivering industry-leading operational reliability and have widened the gap to our competition,” CEO Ed Bastian said during the company’s earnings call. “Last summer, we made forward-leaning investments in the operation.”
“And since then, our teams have delivered operational performance that is among the best in our history with mainline cancellations down 85% and setting new records for completion factor in both the fourth quarter and the first quarter,” he said.
Delta is scheduled to report quarterly earnings on July 11.
On June 28, Jefferies lowered the firm’s price target on Delta Air Lines to $56 from $58 while keeping a buy rating on the shares.
The firm lowered its second-quarter EPS estimate to reflect TRASMs down 1% given broader industry signals of a softening low-end to which Delta’s Main Cabin class is not immune, tied to competitive capacity and discounting that persists into the third-quarter.
TRASM means the total revenue per available seat mile and equals the total revenues divided by total mainline and third-party regional carrier Available Seat Miles (ASMs.)
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