Delta sees demand surge post-US election, asks Trump to fight Gulf airlines

Delta Thursday said it expected a two-year decline in unit revenue to end in early 2017 as prices for last-minute trips have firmed, and appealed to US President-elect Donald Trump to fight foreign airlines that it says compete unfairly. Delta said it expects passenger unit revenue, which measures sales relative to flight capacity, to fall 3% in Q4 2016, versus prior expectations of a drop as large as 5%. Bookings picked up after the US election, it said. The airline also said unit revenue will be unchanged in the first three months of 2017 from a year earlier. Despite the rosier outlook, Delta's CE Ed Bastian said US airlines should be a "poster child" for the Trump administration's fight against countries taking advantage of trade deals with the United States. "Business travel volumes have picked up significantly post-election," Delta President Glen Hauenstein said. "It's almost like the country breathed a sigh of relief. There seemed to be a significant amount of pent-up demand." The airline said it plans to increase flight capacity 2% in the US, where bookings have been strong, while shrinking international service by 1% in 2017.<br/>