Adventures in the Airline Sector: A Friday Wrapup

Delta Posts Strong Earnings, Modifies Boeing 777 Order

As anticipated, Delta Air Lines (DAL Quote) reported strong earnings yesterday, and in our humble estimation, only Southwest Airlines (LUV Quote) may come close to topping Delta's performance.

Atlanta-based Delta posted earnings of $216 million, or $1.42 a share, beating expectations of $1.29 a share.

However, as readers know, we focus on particular operational statistics, and in Delta's case, we pretty much liked what we saw. Loads were up 1.2 points, revenue per available seat mile was up 1%, and cost per available seat mile was up 0.8%. ...