Delta Air Lines financial results for 2024 and forward view for 2025 are in and reflect “industry-leading operational and financial performance” the carrier says.
Revenue in Q4 2024 rounded the year positively with growth of 5.7 percent resulting in operating revenue of $15.6 billion and income of $1.7 billion with an operating margin of 11%, the company announced.
This gave full year 2024 GAAP financial results showing operating revenue of $61.6 billion and operating income of $6.0 billion with a margin of 9.7%. Adjusted figures suggest operating revenue is 4.3% higher than the full year 2023.
Momentum suggests more growth into 2025
This “built momentum” is expected to carry forward up to March 2025, according to Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s president. “With strength continuing into the new year, we expect March quarter adjusted revenue to be 7 to 9 percent higher than 2024 on growth in capacity and unit revenue,” he said.
Where will that ongoing strength come from? Ed Bastian, Delta’s chief executive officer explains: “As we move into 2025, we expect strong demand for travel to continue, with consumers increasingly seeking the premium products and experiences that Delta provides.”

Some of the “premium” feel may come from the “nose-to-tail transformation” of all Delta’s cabins, unveiled at the start of Q4 2024, with warm, calm cabins and azure restrooms creating “a cabin experience that reflects our customers’ changing expectations and lifestyles.”
Combined with the firm’s “differentiated strategy and best-in-class operations” as well as what it describes as “an increasingly constructive industry backdrop”, the ongoing growth in demand is predicted to position the airline in 2025 “to deliver the best financial year in Delta’s 100-year history, with pre-tax income greater than $6 billion, earnings per share greater than $7.35 and free cash flow of more than $4 billion,” Bastion believes.
Leisure, corporate, transatlantic and cargo all up
Any “softening” in the travel accommodation sector noted mid-way through 2024 by hotel chains and lodgings platforms, is not reflected in the demand for air travel via Delta towards the end of the year. On the contrary, the carrier’s financial statement highlights that “During the months of November and December, Delta saw four of the top ten revenue days in the company’s history and double-digit growth in cash bookings driven by both leisure and corporate travelers.”
Card spending accelerated, the firm reports. Remuneration of nearly $2 billion means American Express grew 14% year-on-year.
Part of the company’s secret to success has been its focus on efficiency, with “low-single digit non-fuel unit cost growth”, it said. Another driving factor is its “diversified revenue base” led by its premium and loyalty segments, that together contributed 57% of the firm’s total 2024 revenues in 2024. In the December quarter, “premium revenue growth outperformed main cabin by 6 points,” the firm revealed.
Strong transatlantic performance, up 6% in Q4 over 2023, comes after the revelation in September 2024 of an expansion in transatlantic routes.
Furthermore, cargo revenue was up 32% in the December quarter year-on-year, “sequentially improving throughout the year, with full year revenue growth of 14 percent over prior year,” the statement noted.