Delta warned that cash losses could be deeper than expected this quarter, reaching as much as $14m a day, as the surge in coronavirus cases undermines travel demand. The carrier also urged all employees to get tested weekly to stem the spread of Covid-19 and said it would begin a contact tracing program on Dec. 15 for international passengers, working with other carriers and the US CDC. Delta now expects to burn $12m to $14m in cash daily this quarter, up from an earlier outlook for as much as $12m, according to a securities filing Thursday. Q4 revenue is still expected to be 30% of what it was a year earlier. The carrier’s dimmer outlook follows similar recent warnings from its biggest US rivals about slipping demand and canceled trips as Covid-19 hospitalizations keep setting records. That reverses an earlier trend in which bookings were independent of the rise and fall of cases. While US air travel jumped for the Thanksgiving holiday, it was just 41% of last year’s level. “While the environment continues to be volatile, I’m encouraged that we are still on track to reach the break-even point in the spring, and that outlook has been bolstered by continuing positive developments with vaccines,” CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees included in the filing. Delta hasn’t decided whether it will require coronavirus vaccinations for employees before they can fly, but Bastian said the carrier would “strongly encourage” it for all airline workers. It’s likely that passengers on international flights will be required to get vaccinated, he said.<br/>
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Delta said Thursday that it would assist federal coronavirus contact tracing efforts, becoming the first airline to do so after the industry spent years resisting government requests for help. Starting Dec. 15, Delta will ask all passengers flying into the United States to voluntarily provide their names, email addresses, destination addresses and phone numbers — information that it will share with the CDC. “We want customers to feel safe when they return to travel, and this voluntary program is another way we can provide additional reassurance to customers and employees alike,” said Bill Lentsch, Delta’s chief customer experience officer. For more than a decade, the US government has pressured airlines to collect such information to help contain contagious viruses. But the industry had rebuffed those requests, saying that it would be too expensive and time-consuming. Earlier this year, airlines helped to thwart a Trump administration effort to require such data collection, even as Congress approved $50b in aid for passenger airlines. <br/>