NEW YORK (AFP) — US carrier Delta Air Lines announced deepening losses Wednesday as it unveiled a first-quarter adjusted loss of 274 million dollars, citing sky-high fuel prices.
Delta, which announced an agreement on April 14 to merge with rival US carrier Northwest Airlines, saw its losses widen compared with a loss of 130 million dollars for the same quarter of 2007.
Delta posted a loss of 69 cents a share, wider than analysts' consensus forecast of a loss of 51 cents.
The Atlanta-based airline operator reported an unadjusted loss of 6.4 billion dollars, including 6.1 billion dollars in depreciations largely due to increases in jet fuel prices.
In response to rising fuel prices, Delta said it expects to rein in its system capacity for the second half of 2008 to between zero and negative two percent, compared with 2007, with domestic capacity down nine percent to 11 percent.
Delta said it would remove 15 to 20 mainline and 60 to 70 regional jet aircraft from its operations by the end of 2008.
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