Delta Air Lines (DAL) Q4 2025 earnings

Delta AirlinesEd Bastian, the company’s CEO, said profits could jump more than 20% this year from 2025 thanks to strong travel demand, especially at the top levels of the market, and will likely reach a record level.

Delta on Tuesday expected adjusted earnings per share to range between $6.50 and $7.50 this year, compared with analysts’ estimates of $7.25 per share.

The carrier, the first airline to report quarterly results this year, expects a sales increase of up to 7% in the first three months of 2026 and adjusted earnings of between 50 cents per share and 90 cents per share in the first quarter, compared with the 72 cents per share forecast of analysts surveyed by LSEG.

Delta is at the top of the “K” in the so-called K-shaped economy, where more revenue comes from higher-spending customers, Bastian said.

“We are looking at our seat growth next year,” Bastian told reporters. “Practically none of our seat growth will be in the main cabin; almost everything will be in the premium sector.”

Main cabin ticket revenue fell 7% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to $5.62 billion, while premium ticket revenue for seats at the front of the plane rose 9% to nearly $5.7 billion, with the segment outpacing the standard coach class, ahead of Delta’s estimates that will occur this year. Over the full year, main cabin revenues remained higher than premium segments.

Delta said bookings were strong from leisure customers and corporate travelers in the first few days of the year. The airline also started 2025 with expectations for a record year, but trimmed its estimates after President Donald Trump implemented tariffs early last year and the longest government shutdown on record, which ended in late November, sent air travel tumbling and bookings plummeted.

Bastian sounded a more cautious tone this year, telling reporters, “We will not plan or commit to record profits.” [forecast] “So we can understand the uncertainty.”

“I think we are well aware of the risk factors,” he said. “Last year, and I think again this year… [will] “It has to be more connected to the geopolitical environment, whether it is international or domestic politics.”

Here’s how the company performed in the fourth quarter compared to what Wall Street was expecting, based on consensus estimates from LSEG:

• EPS: $1.55 was revised from $1.53 expected
• profit: $14.61 billion adjusted versus $14.69 billion expected

Even with its forecast lower, Delta reported fourth-quarter profit of $1.22 billion, or $1.86 per share, up nearly 45% from a year earlier, on revenue of $16 billion, up 3% from 2024. After adjusting for one-time items, Delta reported earnings of $1.02 billion, or $1.55 per share, slightly ahead of estimates.

Growth in premium products outpaces main cabin sales growth, a continuation of the current trend, Bastian said.

Delta also said Tuesday it would buy 30 Boeing The 787-10 Dreamliner, its first long-haul aircraft from the US manufacturer, as sales of larger aircraft rise.

Delta made the Airbus A350 its flagship long-haul aircraft nearly a decade ago and later increased its reliance on the European planemaker when it grounded its Boeing 777 planes during the pandemic. Deliveries will begin in 2031, Delta said, in the latest sign of how airlines will seize delivery opportunities in the next decade.

The carrier has options for 30 more Boeing 787-10s.

Correction: Revenue of $16 billion was up 3% from 2024. An earlier version misstated the year.