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Washington / Bloomberg
Delta Air Lines Inc., the second-largest U.S. carrier, is trimming planned growth in the second half of this year to help counter rising fuel prices and weak foreign economies. It’s also delaying deliveries of four wide-body aircraft.
The carrier will hold expansion to less than 2 percent while reducing domestic capacity increases to 2.5 percent in the fourth quarter from at least four percent during the first nine months of the year. International capacity will be flat to down, the airline said in a U.S. regulatory filing Monday.
Delta is trying to reverse five straight quarters of declining passenger revenue for each seat flown a mile, a critical yardstick for airlines. The steps will remove about one percentage point of planned capacity growth in the fourth quarter.
Four Airbus Group SE A350 wide-body aircraft will be delayed to 2019 and 2020 from original plans to arrive in 2018, the Atlanta-based airline said. The changes will better match Delta’s delivery schedule to the rate of expected improvements in international markets, the airline said.