Delta Air Lines carried 16.8 million passengers in May, a record for the period, bolstering forecasts for a record summer travel season fueled by a strong U.S. economy.
The total number of passengers on Delta’s global flights rose 2.1 percent from the year before, the Atlanta-based airline said Monday. Despite boosting its capacity, the carrier filled 86 percent of seats per flight, on average..
“The revenue environment, which is our proxy for the economy, is very, very strong at Delta,” Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said at an industry conference last week. “Travel has become an important part of the lifestyle of this nation and this economy.”
The increase is fueled in part by growing consumer spending in the U.S., which has benefited this year from GOP-led tax cuts in late 2017 as well as a strengthening labor market. Employers added 223,000 jobs in May, topping economists’ projections of 190,000, and an unemployment rate of 3.8 percent matched a 1969 low.
Looking ahead, the number of passengers traveling on U.S. airlines will likely reach a record 246.1 million from June 1 through Aug. 31, a 3.7 percent increase from last year, according to Airlines for America, an industry lobbying group. Carriers are adding as many as 116,000 seats per day to handle the growing demand.
“As the economy grows along with household net worth, passengers are taking advantage of persistently low airfares for their summer travel plans,” said association Vice President and Chief Economist John Heimlich.
In the first three months of the year, revenue for the nine publicly traded U.S. airlines grew 7 percent, though profit was eroded by surging fuel and labor costs, the association said.
