Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Delta Alliance March Quarter 2024 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Matthew, and I'll be your coordinator. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode until we conduct a question and answer session following the presentation. As a reminder, today's call is being recorded. If you have any questions or comments during the presentation, you may press star 1 on your phone to enter the question queue at any time. I would now like to turn the conference over to Julie Stewart, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us for our March quarter 2024 earnings call. Joining us from Atlanta today are CEO Ed Bastian, our President Glenn Hauenstein, and our CFO Dan Jenke. Ed will open the call with an overview of Delta's performance and strategy, and Glenn will provide an update on the revenue environment. Dan will discuss costs and our balance sheets. After the prepared remarks, we'll take analyst questions. We ask you to please limit yourself to one question and a brief follow-up so we can get to as many of you as possible. And after the analyst Q&A, we'll move to our media questions. Today's discussion contains forward-looking statements that represent our beliefs or expectations about future events. All forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. Some of the factors that may cause such differences are described in Delta's SEC filing. We'll also discuss non-GAAP financial measures, and all results exclude special items unless otherwise noted. You can find a reconciliation of our non-GAAP measures on the investor relations page at ir.delta.com. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Ed.

Well, thank you, Julie, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you joining us today. Earlier this morning, we reported our March quarter results, posting pre-tax earnings of $380 million, or 45 cents per share, a $0.20 improvement over last year on revenue that was 6% higher and a new record for first quarter. Free cash flow was $1.4 billion, and we delivered a return on invested capital of nearly 14%, putting Delta's returns in the top half of the S&P 500. We are delivering industry-leading operational reliability and have widened the gap to our competition. Last summer, we made four gleaning investments in the operation, and since then, Our teams have delivered operational performance that is among the best in our history, with mainline cancellations down 85%, setting new records for completion factor in both the fourth quarter and the first quarter. I'd like to sincerely thank Delta's 100,000 people for your dedication, professionalism, and hard work in delivering these outstanding results. In February, we recognized the efforts of our people with $1.4 billion in profit sharing, more than the rest of the industry combined. and continuing Delta's longstanding philosophy to reward industry-leading performance with industry-leading compensation. Reflecting our people-first culture, Forbes ranked Delta the fifth-best large employer in America, and Delta was recently named the 2024 Global Airline of the Year by Air Transport World for our outstanding commitment to safety, operational performance, and premium customer service. While airline travel and transportation is what we do, it's the experiences on Delta that set us apart as a leading consumer brand and why Delta was recognized as number 11 on Fortune's list of the world's most admired companies. Exciting customer-facing enhancements are on the near horizon, including the opening of new Delta One lounges in JFK, Los Angeles, and Boston, the continued introduction of modern and fuel-efficient aircraft, New premium cabin service offerings upgrades to the fly delta APP and the international expansion of fast free wi fi across our fleet. The rollout of wi fi and delta same continues to be a tremendous success. Since launching last year customers have logged more than 45 million free streaming quality sessions on board and millions have joined the sky miles program through this channel. recognizing our investment to ensure the future of travel is connected, we took the number two spot in the travel category, a Fast Companies list of the most innovative companies, the only airline to be recognized in the ranking. Loyalty to our brand has never been stronger. We continue to set new records with our remuneration from American Express, our most important commercial relationship, and are well on our way to our long-term target of $10 billion. On February the 1st, we announced enhanced and refreshed benefits for our Delta SkyMiles American Express cards, providing more direct value, and the customer response has been very positive. Turning to our outlook, with strong first quarter performance and visibility into the strength of summer travel demand, we remain confident in our full year guidance for earnings of $6 to $7 per share, free cash flow of $3 to $4 billion, and leverage of two and a half times the three main guideposts that we shared with you in January. For the June quarter, we expect to deliver the highest quarterly revenue in our history of mid-teens operating margin and earnings of $2.20 to $2.50 per share. Our forecast for pre-tax profit of approximately $2 billion is on par with 2019 and just shy of last year due to higher fuel prices. Demand continues to be strong, and we see a record spring and summer travel season, with our 11 highest sales days in our history all occurring this calendar year. Spending on services recently surpassed goods for the first time in five years, and there is further runway to return to their long-term trends. Delta's core consumers are in a healthy position, and travel remains a top purchase priority. George Munro, generational shifts and evolving consumer preferences are driving secular growth in premium experiences. George Munro, And business travel demand has taken another meaningful step forward this year with growth accelerating into the mid teens over last year. George Munro, When you put this level of demand strength together with the industry's increased focus on improving financial returns, this may be the most constructive backdrop that I've seen in my airline career. Our industry-leading performance continues to demonstrate the strength of Delta's differentiated brand and returns-focused strategy. And with our disciplined approach to capital investment and focus on free cash flow, Delta is exceptionally well positioned to further strengthen our balance sheet and deliver significant shareholder value. In closing, the momentum in the business continues to build. We are focused on delivering excellent reliability, elevating the customer experience, and improving efficiency across the company to support growth in our earnings and cash flow. I am excited for Delta's opportunities ahead, and we'll talk more about that and provide new long-term financial targets at our Investor Day, which we are scheduling for November 19th and 20th in New York City. Please put that on your calendar. Thank you again, and with that, let me hand it over to Glenn for more details on our commercial performance.