Delta Air Lines earnings were great last quarter. The airline beat Wall Street expectations for earnings and revenues, with the former coming in at $37 million, the latter landing at a record $13.7 billion.
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A big part of that was business travel, which is coming back in a big way. Airlines make a lot of their money from corporate road warriors, who are more likely to splurge on premium features while they’re in the air.
“Managed corporate sales grew 14 percent year-over-year, led by the return of large corporate accounts, particularly in the Technology, Consumer Services and Financial Services sectors,” the company said in the release announcing the results. “Recent corporate survey results indicate that 90 percent of companies expect their travel volumes to increase or stay the same in the June quarter and beyond.”
Though lots of airlines have been complaining about the effect of Boeing’s 737 Max delays on their business, Delta doesn’t have any of the planes in its fleet and isn’t expecting to delivery of any until 2025 at the earliest according to its latest annual report.
Plus, it expects that “robust demand” from other kinds of flyers will drive another record next quarter.
Delta stock was up 2% in Wednesday morning trading.
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