Delta on Tuesday reported a Q4 profit that beat estimates, boosted in part by customers it gained from rival airlines' 737 MAX cancellations and growing air travel demand. Airlines that own Boeing's 737 MAX are cancelling more than 10,000 monthly flights in total as the aircraft remains grounded following two deadly crashes. Delta does not operate the MAX, enabling it to expand its flight capacity and capture new customers as peers like Southwest Airlines have had to scale back. "There's no question that we're picking up new customers, but that's not the main driver of our performance," Chief Executive Ed Bastian said, citing strong customer loyalty at a time when air travel demand continues to rise. American Airlines Group and United are scheduling flights without the MAX into early June, in anticipation of extra simulator training requirements for pilots once regulators finally approve the jet to fly again. Southwest, the other US MAX carrier, so far is cancelling flights into April. Delta has not picked up premium revenues from rivals over the MAX but Bastian said the carrier would continue to see a marginal benefit while the jet remains grounded. Net income climbed 8% to $1.1b in the quarter through Dec. 31 from a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share hit $1.70, beating analysts' expectations for $1.40, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.<br/>
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A Delta flight crew that dumped fuel on several Los Angeles area schools before making an emergency landing, causing minor injuries to schoolchildren, did not inform air traffic controllers it planned to do so, the FAA said Wednesday. Delta Flight 89, which was turned back for an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport after departing for Shanghai, dumped fuel on the playgrounds of at least four elementary schools in its flight path, causing minor injuries to at least 44 children and adults on the ground, the Los Angeles County Fire Department said on Twitter. None of the children or adults needed hospitalization, the department added. “A review of yesterday’s air traffic control communications shows the Delta Flight 89 crew did not tell air traffic control that they needed to dump fuel,” the FAA said. “In this emergency situation, the fuel-dumping procedure did not occur at an optimal altitude that would have allowed the fuel to atomize properly.”<br/>
Jet fuel rained down from the sky in Los Angeles on Tuesday when an airplane making an emergency landing dumped its fuel over schools, playgrounds and homes. Emergency medical workers treated about 60 adults and children for minor injuries such as skin irritation and breathing problems at six schools, though all of the patients declined to be transported to a hospital. The plane, Delta Flight 89, was carrying 167 people and enough fuel to reach its intended destination of Shanghai when it experienced engine trouble shortly after taking off from Los Angeles International Airport, a Delta spokeswoman said. The pilot quickly sought to return the jet, a Boeing 777-200, to the runway. The FAA is investigating the fuel dump, which fell over at least a five-mile swath of the Los Angeles area, including on a school playground where children were playing, officials said. The episode raised questions about why the plane would be emptying its tanks over a populated area. Story provides some answers.<br/>