Q3 2024 Airlines report still healthy demand for travel
Overall results
Delta’s net income rose 15% from a year earlier to $1.27 billion with total revenue up 1% to $15.68 billion.
United Airlines posted revenue of $14.84 billion, up 2.5% from a year earlier and above analysts’ estimates. It reported net income of $965 million, down 15% from a year ago.
American Airlines revenue rose 1.2% to a record $13.65 billion, but posted a net loss of $149 million, narrower than the $545 million loss it reported a year earlier. Unit revenue fell 2% in the quarter.
Travel demand continues to be healthy
Delta: core customer base is in a healthy financial position with travel remaining a top spend category.
Delta: Unit revenue improved sequentially in all geographic entities reflecting the strength in travel demand and an improving industry backdrop.
Corporate travel also continues to improve
Delta: Corporate travel sales were up 7% during the quarter, led by double-digit growth in coastal hubs with broad-based strength across sectors.
Delta: recent corporate survey indicates a positive outlook for business demand with 85% of respondents indicating they expect their travel spend to grow in 2025.
United Airlines: Corporate demand acceleration was nice to see in September across all regions and is expected to continue into Q4.
United Airlines: Contracted corporate revenues were up 13% in September, at 95% of 2019 revenues, which is 13 points higher than July and August.
Q4 2024 demand is expected to continue to be strong
Delta: continuing to shift travel to Europe, in particular, from July and August peak to a September and October peak.
American Airlines: fourth quarter, I do see strong demand overall, but it’s a quarter in which a strong October, and I think a strong December has some noise in it.
American Airlines: how bookings have progressed, I see that October very strong, December very strong. And as we look out into 2025, same holds true for what we have on the books for January as well.
Delta: The improved unit revenue trends we saw in the month of September are continuing into the December quarter with healthy bookings for the holiday.
However, softness in demand is expected close to the US elections
Delta: historically, domestic travel demand is impacted in the weeks surrounding the election, resulting in an expected 1 point impact to system unit revenue for the quarter.
American Airlines: expected softness in demand around the election, around Halloween.