“We achieved record sales and profitability in the second quarter,” Ed Bastian, the company’s CEO, said in a press release.

“Consumer demand for air travel remains resilient,” he said, giving a new guidance for earnings per share — $6 to $7, up from $5 to $6 previously — for the current fiscal year.

That’s likely to remain the case for the rest of the year, with Delta expecting record third-quarter revenue (up between 11% and 14% year over year), with an operating margin of around 15%, and net earnings per share (EPS). ) without exceptional items from $2.20 to $2.50.

For the year as a whole, activity is likely to increase by 17 to 20%. “The fourth quarter will be strong,” Mr. Bastian anticipated on CNBC.

Between April and June, earnings per share excluding specified items were $2.68, or +84% over the year. The consensus of analysts determined by Factset expected $ 2.40.

Revenue rose 13% to $15.58 billion and net income doubled to $1.82 billion from $735 million in the second quarter of 2022. The consensus had expected $14.34 billion and $1.54 billion, respectively.

“One of the reasons this quarter was much better is that we were 6% more efficient in terms of fuel burn per passenger than in the second quarter of 2019,” Mr. Bastian pointed out to CNBC.

The company has launched the largest transatlantic summer program in its history with more than 650 weekly flights to 32 destinations, representing a 20% increase in capacity compared to the previous summer.

It is expected to carry nearly 200 million passengers this year.

Thanks to these results, the company allocated $667 million in the first half of the year for profit sharing, which was paid out in 2024, and accelerated the repayment of its debt.

Delta announced in mid-June that it would be paying its first quarterly dividend since March 2020, a meager 10 cents a share. “This is an important step,” the company stated on Thursday.