Delta Air Lines posted yet more massive losses in the third quarter, warning investors “it may be two years or more” for demand for air travel to return to normal.
The airline posted a $2.1 billion operating loss in the third quarter, excluding special items like charges for buyout packages for employees who voluntarily left the company and early retirement of aircraft. Including those items, its net loss topped $5 billion for the second consecutive period.
The third-quarter loss was larger than forecast by Wall Street analysts.
Analysts expect total losses among US airlines to top $10 billion for last quarter, as the pandemic continues to fuel a huge drop in demand. Delta is the first US airline to report results for the quarter.
Delta’s revenue also fell 79 compared to the year-earlier period. As bad as it was, it was an improvement from the 88% drop in revenue in the second quarter.
