Argentina's national carrier scheduled two extra flights from Buenos Aires to Qatar to take soccer fans to the World Cup final. Both Aerolíneas Argentinas flights sold out quickly. The first one leaves from Argentina's capital on Friday morning, and tickets for that flight were gone within a half-hour of the national team's 3-0 victory over Croatia in the semifinals on Tuesday. Tickets for the second flight, which leaves Friday night, went on sale early Wednesday and were sold out within a couple of hours, the airline said. “We were able to get to the final stage of this successful operation thanks to the victories by the national team that allowed us to keep scheduling flights,” airline president Pablo Ceriani said. “Now we have to support them in this last game and we hope to bring the World Cup back home again.” The airline sold 540 roundtrip tickets for the two flights, with each one costing around 2m pesos (more than $11,000). The flights are 19 hours long with a refueling stop in Rome. Aerolíneas Argentinas has provided a total of 12 flights for the World Cup. Argentina will play the winner of the France-Morocco semifinal match on Wednesday. The World Cup final is on Sunday at Lusail Stadium.<br/>
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Delta Air Lines says the travel boom isn’t over. The airline expects its adjusted earnings to nearly double to as much as $6 per share next year, above analysts’ estimates. It forecast a 15% to 20% jump in revenue in 2023 from this year, which is expected to bring in roughly $45.5b. Free cash flow will likely rise from more than $2b next year to more than $4b in 2024, a sharp turnaround from 2020 when Delta posted a record loss. Delta is planning to pay down more of its debt over the next two years. Delta and other airline executives in recent weeks have been upbeat about a recovery in travel demand, despite warnings from other industries about economic weakness ahead. “We’ve seen our recession,” CEO Ed Bastian said. “Consumers are prioritizing their spend, where they’re making choices, and they’re prioritizing investing in themselves and experience.” Delta on Wednesday raised its Q4 earnings forecast to a range of $1.35 to $1.40 a share, up from its previous outlook of $1 to $1.25 per share. It expects total revenue to come in 7% to 8% higher than Q4 of 2019, before the Covid pandemic. The US airline industry returned to profitability this year thanks to a sharp rebound in travel demand and consumers’ willingness to pay higher fares, which helped carriers more than make up for increased costs like fuel.<br/>