General Lee
Well-known member
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2002
- Posts
- 20,442
For you Lowecur----could a slowdown in the US economy hurt us?
By Chris Reiter
NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) could further shift planes to fly international routes from domestic ones if the U.S. economic slowdown impacts travel spending, the No. 3 U.S. airline's president said on Wednesday.
"We're obviously sensitive to what we're seeing in the U.S. economy," Delta President and Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian told Reuters on the sidelines of a company briefing. "If there's any area of caution we're taking, it's on our U.S. capacity."
By next summer, Delta plans to have 40 percent of its planes, which the industry refers to as capacity, flying international routes -- about double the rate three years earlier when the company was heading toward bankruptcy.
After exiting Chapter 11 at the end of April, Delta has lower costs than many of its competitors, and Bastian said the company's growing international network positions it well for a slowing U.S. economy.
"We think we're actually moving in the direction that the global economic indicators suggest," he said.
Although oil prices have risen well above the $65 a barrel the company expected at the time it emerged from bankruptcy, Bastian said Delta has been able to adjust.
"We've been able to get the right size capacity to meet demand. It's enabled our ability to recover the costs of those higher fuel prices," he said.
But rising oil prices are still a concern. "The concern I have on fuel is not fuel itself, but whether it would spark a slowdown in the general U.S. economy," Bastian said. "But, at this point, we haven't seen that."
Indeed, Delta so far hasn't seen a big impact on travel demand from the U.S. housing slowdown and tighter credit markets.
"The demand and revenue environment these days is very, very strong," Bastian said. "We haven't seen any significant impact" of a slowing economy on bookings.
Bye Bye--General Lee
By Chris Reiter
NEW YORK, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) could further shift planes to fly international routes from domestic ones if the U.S. economic slowdown impacts travel spending, the No. 3 U.S. airline's president said on Wednesday.
"We're obviously sensitive to what we're seeing in the U.S. economy," Delta President and Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian told Reuters on the sidelines of a company briefing. "If there's any area of caution we're taking, it's on our U.S. capacity."
By next summer, Delta plans to have 40 percent of its planes, which the industry refers to as capacity, flying international routes -- about double the rate three years earlier when the company was heading toward bankruptcy.
After exiting Chapter 11 at the end of April, Delta has lower costs than many of its competitors, and Bastian said the company's growing international network positions it well for a slowing U.S. economy.
"We think we're actually moving in the direction that the global economic indicators suggest," he said.
Although oil prices have risen well above the $65 a barrel the company expected at the time it emerged from bankruptcy, Bastian said Delta has been able to adjust.
"We've been able to get the right size capacity to meet demand. It's enabled our ability to recover the costs of those higher fuel prices," he said.
But rising oil prices are still a concern. "The concern I have on fuel is not fuel itself, but whether it would spark a slowdown in the general U.S. economy," Bastian said. "But, at this point, we haven't seen that."
Indeed, Delta so far hasn't seen a big impact on travel demand from the U.S. housing slowdown and tighter credit markets.
"The demand and revenue environment these days is very, very strong," Bastian said. "We haven't seen any significant impact" of a slowing economy on bookings.
Bye Bye--General Lee
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