Sorry for the thread revival; I've been on vacation with family for a few weeks. Vacations away from work and work topics are a good thing.
Delta's Trainer refinery has been a success in reducing the JetA crack spread. A 'normal' refinery produces ~9% JetA as its final product. Delta was looking for mid-30s JetA for its final product; I've read it's 'only' running in the high 20s. Frankly, that's a huge success in reducing JetA crack spreads. The much higher percentage of JetA production vs other oil based products cannot be understated. This is a huge benefit for all airlines.
The problem with Delta being the only airline with a refinery is that all airlines (especially those that have large presence in the vicinity of Trainer - JetBlue, Yonited, US Scareways, American) benefit from the reduced crack spread. So to measure Trainer's performance by traditional profit/loss metrics is a bit flawed.
Bottom line: on paper, Trainer may appear to be a money loser, but the reduction of JetA crack spread will likely make it a moneymaker for Delta. For the rest of the airlines, they will freeride off of Delta's refinery investment.
It may turn out to be a bad move on Delta's part, but your 5th grade logic is pretty weak, and missing the point entirely. Academy grad?
Ouch. I resemble that remark. In my defense, I was trained, not educated at the Blue Zoo.
However, I was an econ major who had the audacity to challenge my instructors on the concept that running deficits was a good thing ... I countered with that was simply pulling demand forward. That, and my slothlike behavior, resulted in a GPA somewhere around 2.4. If the minimum wasn't good enough, it wouldn't be the minimum.
