Delta's 2011 profit rises 44% on strong revenue growth

Delta Air Lines (DL) reported 2011 net income of $854 million, up 44% over a net profit of $593 million in 2010.

Annual revenue rose 11% year-over-year to $35.12 billion while expenses heightened 12% to $33.14 billion, producing an operating profit of $1.98 billion, down 11%. DL "fully covered our fuel cost increase with higher revenues," president Ed Bastian said in a statement. "Our revenue momentum has continued into 2012, and we are currently seeing our January consolidated passenger unit revenues up 15% year-over-year."

DL's 2011 consolidated traffic was flat year-over-year at 192.77 billion RPMs on a 1% rise in capacity to 234.66 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 82.1%, down 0.9 point. Consolidated passenger yield heightened 11% to 15.7 cents.

DL's fourth-quarter net income was $425 million, significantly widened over a $19 million net profit in the prior-year period. Fourth-quarter revenue was up 8% to $8.34 billion. It said the three-month period was its most profitable December quarter ever.