Delta Air Lines (DAL), the biggest carrier in the US by market value, said a technology outage and recovery period for four days in August dented pre-tax income by $150 million.
Third quarter adjusted earnings per share was $1.70 down from last year’s $1.74 but beating analysts’ expectations for $1.65. Revenue fell 5.6% to $10.48 billion, just shy of the Wall Street projection for $10.5 billion.
Delta’s system-wide outage led to hundreds of flight delays and cancellations following a power loss and prompted the airline to offer $200 travel vouchers to people affected by delays of more than three hours.
“Delta’s resiliency stood out this quarter as we worked through the outage, continued revenue headwinds, and volatile fuel prices,” Ed Bastian, chief executive officer, said in a statement on Wednesday. “With our focus on building a more sustainable and durable business, we will be taking a cautious approach to 2017 by keeping our capacity in line with the December quarter’s 1% growth level.”
Delta, which has a market capitalization of $29.8 billion, is expecting unit revenues in the period ending December to decline by 3% to 5% year on year, the company said.
