Delta Air Lines Reports October Traffic


ATLANTA, Nov. 6, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) today reported October traffic results for both Delta and Northwest operating units.

Delta

Delta reported record load factors for October 2008. Load factors for system (81.6 percent), domestic (83.7 percent) and mainline domestic (84.9%) were higher than any previous October on record for Delta.

Delta's system traffic in October 2008 decreased 2.2 percent over October 2007 on a capacity decrease of 4.7 percent. Delta's system load factor increased 2.0 points compared to the same period last year. International traffic increased 11.5 percent year over year on a 12.5 percent increase in capacity, and load factor declined 0.7 points. As a result of Delta's global expansion, a record number of passengers flew internationally on Delta during the month of October. The number of international and Atlantic passengers increased 5.2 percent and 11.7 percent, respectively, versus the same period last year.

Domestic traffic decreased 8.8 percent year over year on 13.0 percent lower capacity, and load factor increased 3.8 points.

Northwest

Northwest's system traffic in October 2008 decreased 1.4 points on a capacity decrease of 2.0 percent. Northwest's system load factor increased 0.5 points compared to the same period last year.

International traffic increased 5.2 percent year over year on a 6.0 percent increase in capacity, and load factor declined 0.6 points. Domestic traffic decreased 6.1 percent year over year on a 7.4 percent decrease in capacity, and load factor increased 1.1 points.

"Thanks in part to the capacity reductions taken earlier this year, October unit revenues for both Delta and Northwest were in line with forecast," said Glen Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president -- Network Planning and Revenue Management. "As expected, we are starting to see some signs of international demand softness and are proactively adjusting our winter schedules to trim frequencies where warranted while maintaining our broad global scope."

Detailed traffic and capacity are attached.

Delta Air Lines is the world's largest airline. From its hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita, Delta, its NWA subsidiary and Delta Connection carriers offer service to more than 376 destinations worldwide in 66 countries and serve more than 170 million passengers each year. Delta's marketing alliances allow customers to earn and redeem either SkyMiles or WorldPerks on more than 16,000 daily flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta and its 75,000 worldwide employees are reshaping the aviation industry as the only U.S. airline to offer a full global network. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and flight status at delta.com.

The Delta Air Lines, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1825

Statements in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements regarding our estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections or strategies for the future, may be "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the estimates, expectations, beliefs, intentions, projections and strategies reflected in or suggested by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the cost of aircraft fuel; the impact that our indebtedness will have on our financial and operating activities and our ability to incur additional debt; the restrictions that financial covenants in our financing agreements will have on our financial and business operations; labor issues; interruptions or disruptions in service at one of our hub airports; our increasing dependence on technology in our operations; our ability to retain management and key employees; the ability of our credit card processors to take significant holdbacks in certain circumstances; the effects of terrorist attacks; competitive conditions in the airline industry; and our ability to achieve expected synergies from our merger with Northwest.

Additional information concerning risks and uncertainties that could cause differences between actual results and forward-looking statements is contained in Delta's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2007 and Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2008. Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on Delta's forward-looking statements, which represent Delta's views only as of November 6, 2008, and which Delta has no current intention to update.


                            Delta Air Lines
                       Monthly Traffic Results(a)

                       October 2008      October 2007       Change
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 RPMs (000):

 Domestic                 6,266,639         6,871,157       (8.8%)
   Mainline               4,970,469         5,302,925       (6.3%)
   Regional               1,296,170         1,568,232      (17.3%)
 International            3,664,046         3,286,641        11.5%
   Latin America            595,386           631,047       (5.7%)
     Mainline               578,435           596,189       (3.0%)
     Regional                16,951            34,858      (51.4%)
   Atlantic               2,850,945         2,522,075        13.0%
   Pacific                  217,715           133,519        63.1%
 System                   9,930,685        10,157,798       (2.2%)

 ASMs (000):
 Domestic                 7,485,058         8,600,440      (13.0%)
   Mainline               5,855,431         6,588,394      (11.1%)
   Regional               1,629,627         2,012,046      (19.0%)
 International            4,681,664         4,161,399        12.5%
   Latin America            820,838           856,973       (4.2%)
     Mainline               797,429           808,051       (1.3%)
     Regional                23,409            48,922      (52.2%)
   Atlantic               3,568,755         3,121,687        14.3%
   Pacific                  292,071           182,739        59.8%
 System                  12,166,722        12,761,839       (4.7%)

 Load Factor
 Domestic                     83.7%             79.9%          3.8 pts
   Mainline                   84.9%             80.5%          4.4 pts
   Regional                   79.5%             77.9%          1.6 pts
 International                78.3%             79.0%        (0.7) pts
   Latin America              72.5%             73.6%        (1.1) pts
     Mainline                 72.5%             73.8%        (1.3) pts
     Regional                 72.4%             71.3%          1.1 pts
   Atlantic                   79.9%             80.8%        (0.9) pts
   Pacific                    74.5%             73.1%          1.4 pts
 System                       81.6%             79.6%          2.0 pts

 Passengers Boarded       8,773,191         9,218,867       (4.8%)

 Completion Factor            99.5%             99.2%          0.3 pts

 Cargo Ton Miles (000):
   Mail                       5,854             5,231        11.9%
   Freight                  103,104            97,413         5.8%
   Total System             108,958           102,644         6.2%

 Endnote:
 (a) Results include operations under our contract carrier 
     arrangements.


                            Delta Air Lines
                    Year to Date Traffic Results (a)

                       October 2008      October 2007       Change
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 RPMs (000):
 Domestic                66,095,794        69,571,084       (5.0%)
   Mainline              51,659,393        54,375,741       (5.0%)
   Regional              14,436,401        15,195,343       (5.0%)
 International           38,298,936        33,413,375        14.6%
   Latin America          8,887,298         8,541,574         4.0%
     Mainline             8,449,694         8,125,040         4.0%
     Regional               437,604           416,534         5.1%
   Atlantic              27,379,728        23,686,792        15.6%
   Pacific                2,031,910         1,185,009        71.5%
 Total System           104,394,730       102,984,459         1.4%

 ASMs (000):
 Domestic                79,388,411        85,053,484       (6.7%)
   Mainline              61,155,829        65,616,860       (6.8%)
   Regional              18,232,582        19,436,624       (6.2%)
 International           47,976,682        42,057,969        14.1%
   Latin America         11,209,300        11,297,013       (0.8%)
     Mainline            10,637,116        10,713,991       (0.7%)
     Regional               572,184           583,022       (1.8%)
   Atlantic              34,121,105        29,327,129        16.3%
   Pacific                2,646,277         1,433,827        84.6%
 Total System           127,365,093       127,111,453         0.2%

 Load Factor
 Domestic                     83.3%             81.8%          1.5 pts
   Mainline                   84.5%             82.9%          1.6 pts
   Regional                   79.2%             78.2%          1.0 pts
 International                79.8%             79.4%          0.4 pts
   Latin America              79.3%             75.6%          3.7 pts
     Mainline                 79.4%             75.8%          3.6 pts
     Regional                 76.5%             71.4%          5.1 pts
   Atlantic                   80.2%             80.8%        (0.6) pts
   Pacific                    76.8%             82.6%        (5.8) pts
 Total System                 82.0%             81.0%          1.0 pts

 Passengers Boarded      89,534,704        91,899,759       (2.6%)

 Cargo Ton Miles (000):
   Mail                      58,733            47,664        23.2%
   Freight                  972,687           878,779        10.7%
   Total System           1,031,421           926,444        11.3%

 Endnote:
 (a) Results include operations under our contract carrier 
     arrangements.



                           Northwest Airlines
                      Monthly Traffic Results (a)

                       October 2008      October 2007       Change
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 RPMs (000):
 Domestic                 3,569,567         3,801,390       (6.1%)
   Mainline               2,808,500         3,304,660      (15.0%)
   Regional                 761,067           496,730        53.2%
 International            2,812,167         2,672,060         5.2%
   Atlantic               1,116,303         1,036,800         7.7%
   Pacific                1,695,864         1,635,260         3.7%
 Total System             6,381,734         6,473,450       (1.4%)

 ASMs (000):
 Domestic                 4,268,688         4,609,663       (7.4%)
   Mainline               3,277,633         3,970,564      (17.5%)
   Regional                 991,055           639,099        55.1%
 International            3,306,000         3,118,791         6.0%
   Atlantic               1,369,435         1,229,922        11.3%
   Pacific                1,936,565         1,888,869         2.5%
 Total System             7,574,688         7,728,454       (2.0%)

 Load Factor
 Domestic                     83.6%             82.5%          1.1 pts
   Mainline                   85.7%             83.2%          2.5 pts
   Regional                   76.8%             77.7%        (0.9) pts
 International                85.1%             85.7%        (0.6) pts
   Atlantic                   81.5%             84.3%        (2.8) pts
   Pacific                    87.6%             86.6%          1.0 pts
 Total System                 84.3%             83.8%          0.5 pts

 Passengers Boarded:      5,298,249         5,588,287       (5.2%)

 Cargo Ton Miles (000):     125,492           190,398      (34.1%)


 Endnote:
 (a) Results include operations under our contract carrier 
     arrangements.



                          Northwest Airlines
                   Year to Date Traffic Results(a)

                       October 2008      October 2007       Change
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 RPMs (000):
 Domestic                39,479,089        39,517,503         0.1%
   Mainline              32,947,528        35,075,151       (6.1%)
   Regional               6,531,561         4,442,352        47.0%
 International           28,011,350        26,419,496         6.0%
   Atlantic              11,331,997         9,659,658        17.3%
   Pacific               16,679,353        16,759,838         0.5%
 Total System            67,490,439        65,936,999         2.4%

 ASMs (000):
 Domestic                47,183,984        47,707,189       (1.1%)
   Mainline              38,562,131        41,792,283       (7.7%)
   Regional               8,621,853         5,914,906        45.8%
 International           32,824,602        30,475,481         7.7%
   Atlantic              13,572,929        11,187,542        21.3%
   Pacific               19,251,673        19,287,939       (0.2%)
 Total System            80,008,586        78,182,670         2.3%

 Load Factor
 Domestic                     83.7%             82.8%          0.9 pts
   Mainline                   85.4%             83.9%          1.5 pts
   Regional                   75.8%             75.1%          0.7 pts
 International                85.3%             86.7%        (1.4) pts
   Atlantic                   83.5%             86.3%        (2.8) pts
   Pacific                    86.6%             86.9%        (0.3) pts
 Total System                 84.4%             84.3%          0.1 pts

 Passengers Boarded:     55,732,332        55,831,846       (0.2%)

 Cargo Ton Miles (000):   1,443,005         1,674,552      (13.8%)

 Endnote:
 (a) Results include operations under our contract carrier 
     arrangements.


            

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