Sandy takes toll on Delta revenue

Airline puts cost at $45 million because of canceled flights

Delta Air Lines travelers look at departure screens earlier this week at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Delta said cancellations caused by superstorm Sandy cut into its October revenue.
Delta Air Lines travelers look at departure screens earlier this week at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. Delta said cancellations caused by superstorm Sandy cut into its October revenue.

— Delta Air Lines said superstorm Sandy cut its revenue by $45 million last month as it was forced to cancel more than 3,500 flights.

That’s only a fraction of the $8.4 billion in revenue it reported in last year’s fourth quarter. It won’t report full results for the current quarter until January.

The Atlanta company, the world’s second-largest airline after United, said its October profit was reduced by about $20 million. That’s about 5 percent of the $425 million it earned in the fourth quarter last year.

While October tends to be a slow month for travel in general, it’s a busy month for business travelers, especially in and out of the New York area.

Delta Air Lines Inc. said that it is running a near-full schedule at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty in New Jersey. But on Thursday it ran at only 80 percent at New York’s LaGuardia Airport, which sustained the heaviest flooding and damage.

Hurricane Sandy hit the New York area Monday night. As of Thursday, airlines had canceled more than 20,000flights because of the storm.

Delta expects the storm will have less of an impact on its operations this month.

Overall, Delta said traffic last month rose just 0.3 percent, as a 1 percent decline in domestic traffic offset an improvement overseas.

It said per-passenger revenue rose 5.5 percent in October. And despite the impact of the storm, Delta said it completed 98 percent of its flights and had an on-time rate of 85.5 percent.

Delta shares were unchanged Friday, closing at $9.70.

John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports reopened to flights Wednesday. LaGuardia reopened to some flights on Thursday.

Overseas carriers also resumed New York service Wednesday with some shifting to larger planes to carry more passengers.

Korean Air Lines Co. used an Airbus SAS A380 superjumbo jet for flights to JFK from Seoul instead of a Boeing Co. 777-300ER, adding 116 seats. Boeing 747 jumbo jets also were used on the route Thursday, the airline said in an e-mail.

Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.’s Hong Kong flight to JFK resumed flights Thursday, according to an airline statement that cautioned travelers to expect “considerable damage” and limited services at the airport. Air India resumed flights Thursday to New York and Newark, the carrier said in a statement.

Airport officials will have to inspect runways for damage and debris and ensure that lighting and other equipment is working before full operations can resume, said Debbie McElroy, a spokesman for the Washington-based Airports Council International-North America trade group.

Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press and by Mary Schlangenstein, Mary Jane Credeur and Victoria Stilwell of Bloomberg News.

Business, Pages 29 on 11/03/2012

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