Delta aims to reduce cash burn to zero by year-end

Delta aims to reduce daily cash burn to zero by the end of the year as it begins to ramp up its schedule to accommodate a small uptick in demand after the global coronavirus pandemic decimated air travel several weeks ago. Delta’s CFO Paul Jacobson says the airline recently saw a slight rise in bookings, and on some days bookings have even outstripped cancellations – a positive sign that passengers may be returning to air travel. That said, the airline will maintain a load factor cap of 60% and remain vigilant not to build up its schedule too quickly, since it is still unknown if a second wave of coronavirus infections may hit later in the year, and draw the industry into another downturn. “We are cautious about people getting out and moving,” Jacobson said Tuesday. “I’d like to be optimistic, but … we can’t afford to have false starts. We have seen a bounce off the bottom but my caution is not to draw too much in the way of conclusions on a data set [that] is not that conclusive.” <br/>