Delta Air Lines expects to grow earnings in the fourth quarter, thanks to resilient travel demand and strong bookings for year-end holidays. The Atlanta-based carrier on Thursday forecast fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.60 to $1.85 per share, compared with Wall Street estimates of $1.71, according to LSEG, and above the adjusted $1.28 per share it reported a year earlier. Revenue will likely rise between 2% and 4% from a a year earlier, compared with estimates of a 4.1% increase. The carrier warned it expects a 1-point revenue hit from lower demand before and after the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election. “We do anticipate seeing a little choppiness around the election, which we’ve seen in past national elections,” CEO Ed Bastian said in an interview. “Consumers will, I think, take a little bit of pause in making investment decisions, whether its discretionary or other things. I think you’re going to hear other industries talking about that as well.” He added that holiday bookings are very strong. Delta reiterated that the CrowdStrike outage in July amounted to a 45-cent hit to adjusted earnings, which came in at $1.50 per share, slightly below analyst estimates. Delta struggled to recover after the outage, which took thousands of Microsoft Windows machines offline, and prompted the airline to cancel thousands of flights. The incident was a $380m hit to revenue, Delta said. Story has details.<br/>
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Summer trips to Europe are getting too hot for thousands of tourists. Delta Air Lines President Glen Hauenstein said travelers are opting out of flying to Europe during the traditional summer peak travel season. Instead, they are shifting trips to cooler months, a trend that airline officials have been noticing over the past couple of years as consumers look to escape crowds and record heat of popular destinations. “The weather in Europe in August is really hot, and that people who have choices when they can take their vacations are moving into let’s call it more temperate months,” Hauenstein said Thursday on an earnings call. Corporate [travel] we haven’t seen much change year over year but it’s continuing to shift travel to Europe in particular from July and August peak to a September and October peak.” Summer this year in the Northern Hemisphere was the hottest on record, according to the European Union’s climate monitor. Airlines have been extending robust trans-Atlantic schedules through much of the fall to cater to the shifting patterns. “What we’re doing at United is we’re extending the season,” Patrick Quayle, United Airlines’ senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, said in an interview earlier this year. He said the carrier opted to begin some European routes in March and April this year and will fly some of them through late October and early November. “What we’re seeing is, more and more, travelers are going in those shoulder seasons where you can get a bit more value, and I think the weather’s a bit better,” he added.<br/>