Delta lowered its 2026 adjusted earnings outlook to $5.10 to $5.60 a share from $6.50 to $7.50, and said fuel costs are expected to add $6 billion this year.
Delta Air Lines cut its 2026 profit forecast on Friday as higher fuel costs outweighed travel demand and higher fares, Reuters reported from Chicago. The carrier now expects adjusted annual earnings of $5.10 to $5.60 a share, down from the $6.50 to $7.50 range it gave in July.
The midpoint of the new range is $5.35 a share, below the $5.46 average analyst estimate compiled by LSEG, Reuters said. Shares fell 2.5 percent in early trading. It was the first time this year Delta had cut the 2026 forecast, and the company raised its projected fuel-cost increase by $2 billion.
Chief financial officer Erik Snell told reporters the cut was entirely about fuel, citing higher crude and refined jet-fuel prices since the summer. Third-quarter fuel expenses rose 62 percent from a year earlier to $4.1 billion, more than $500 million above the July forecast, Reuters reported. Delta expects the year's fuel bill to be about $6 billion higher.
Snell said the airline's refinery outside Philadelphia is expected to generate about $700 million in profit this year, a partial offset. Airways Magazine, citing the company figures, reported adjusted operating revenue of $17.6 billion in the September quarter, up 16 percent from a year earlier, and a December-quarter all-in fuel assumption of about $4.25 a gallon.
Delta is the first major global carrier to report the quarter. Reuters tied the fuel spike to the Iran war. The forecast is the company's guidance, not a completed full-year result.
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- Erik Snell told reporters the forecast cut was entirely about fuel.