Delta cargo revenues down more than half

DELTA has posted a third-quarter loss of US$161 million. The US airline, which is phasing out its freighter fleet, said cargo revenues were down 51 per cent, by $187 million. Reacting to the loss, it said that it would cut capacity in 2010 by three per cent.Delta maintains that it would have made a profit of $51 million if it had not been for $212 million of costs for merging with Northwest Airlines, which included refinancing debts and employee severance packages.Total revenues grew 32 percent including Northwest’s figures. But merging the third quarter figures of the two airlines, total revenue declined by $2 billion or 21 percent.Delta’s chief financial officer, Hank Halter, called the revenue declines “unprecedented” and blamed the global recession.

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