Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Delta Airlines March Quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. My name is Matthew, and I will 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 and Corporate Development. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Matthew. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us for our March quarter 2026 earnings call. Joining us from Atlanta today are our CEO, Ed Bastian, our Chief Commercial Officer, Joe Esposito, and our CFO for the March quarter and recently named Chief Operating Officer, Dan Jenke. We're also joined by our recently named CFO, Eric Snell, and President Peter Carter. Ed will open the call with an overview of Delta's performance and strategy. Joe will provide an update on the revenue environment, and Dan will discuss costs in our balance sheet. After the prepared remarks, we'll take analyst questions. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and a brief follow-up so that we can get to as many of you as possible. And after the analyst Q&A, we'll move to our media questions. As a reminder, 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 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 filings. And we'll also discuss non-GAAP financial measures. 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.

Thank you, Julie, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Before we begin, I want to acknowledge the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Our thoughts are with all those affected, and we remain hopeful for a peaceful resolution. Turning to our performance for the March quarter, our results underscore the power of Delta's brand and the durability of our financial foundation. We delivered earnings that were 40% higher than last year and consistent with our January guidance, even with the significant step up in fuel and several external headwinds. Our strong results were driven by record revenue, which grew nearly 10%, increasing more than $1 billion over last year. Demand was broad-based across corporate and leisure, with continued momentum in high-margin, diverse revenue streams. As a result, we delivered a pre-tax profit of $530 million and earnings of 64 cents per share, with $1.2 billion of free cash flow and a 12% return on invested capital. Our results are powered by the Delta people who will always be our greatest competitive advantage. And I want to thank all 100,000 members of the Delta team for their commitment to delivering for our customers each and every day. For the seventh year, Delta's People First culture has earned a place on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list, moving into the top 10 for the first time. When Delta succeeds, so do our people. In February, we celebrated $1.3 billion in profit sharing payouts. Similar to last year, this was more than the rest of the industry combined. Looking at the current environment, demand remains strong. The acceleration we saw in March is carrying forward into the June quarter. Over the last month, cash sales, which are the clearest indicator of demand, are up double digits, with strength across the booking curve, geographies, and products. Our consumers are continuing to prioritize experiences with travel among the top spending categories. We are seeing this in continued double-digit spend growth on the Delta American Express card portfolio, building on last year's double-digit growth. Combined with strong corporate trends, our customer base is showing greater resilience to macro and geopolitical uncertainty. The war in the Middle East has driven an unprecedented spike in jet fuel. with prices roughly double what they were earlier in the year. In this environment, our focus is on what we can control, running a reliable operation, taking care of our people and customers, and protecting our margins and cash flow. As part of that, we are meaningfully reducing capacity in the current quarter with a downward bias until we see the fuel situation improve. At the same time, we're moving quickly to recapture higher fuel prices. With much of the industry still struggling to earn its cost of capital, there's a high sense of urgency to address higher fuel and reduce unprofitable flying. Over my career, I've seen many periods of disruption in this industry. And time and again, high fuel prices have been the most powerful catalyst for change, separating the winners and forcing weaker players to rationalize, consolidate, or be eliminated. Delta is navigating from an advantage position. We have the best-in-class brand with a loyal, resilient, and financially healthy customer base. Our financial foundation transcends the industry, built on double-digit returns, durable cash flow, and an investment-grade balance sheet. And we own a refinery that provides a partial offset to elevated refining margins. Based on current demand trends, we expect low teens revenue growth in the June quarter, recapturing 40% to 50% of the more than $2 billion of fuel headwind in the quarter. With that, we expect to deliver a 6% to 8% operating margin with a pre-tax profit of $1 billion. Then we'll talk more about the components of our outlook. While it's still early to update the full-year outlook, our structural advantages and execution keep us on track to achieve our long-term financial targets. So while higher fuel is a current impact to earnings, I'm confident this environment ultimately reinforces Delta's leadership and accelerates our long-term earnings power. 26 will be another opportunity to demonstrate how much we have structurally improved our business and reduced earnings volatility relative to prior cycles and to the industry. That also shows up in how we operate and serve our customers. We've long been recognized as the industry leader in reliability. In this quarter, Cerium named Delta the most on-time airline in North America for the fifth consecutive year. That reflects the strength of our operation and the pride that our teams take in delivering for customers. At the same time, over the past several months, particularly following severe weather, our reliability and recovery haven't met consistently and up our high standards. We understand the drivers, and this has our full attention. Teams are taking targeted actions to improve resilience and recovery, as well as addressing challenges that have resulted from contractual changes to our pilot working agreement that came into effect over the past year. While this will take a little bit of time to work through, we're partnering with our pilots and union leadership to ensure we deliver the reliability that Delta is known for. reliability and experience go hand in hand, and we're continuing to invest for our customers. During the quarter, we placed firm orders for 95 additional aircraft, accelerating our fleet renewal and supporting international growth in the years ahead. We also expanded our industry-leading lounge network, opening a new Sky Club in Denver and completing three newly renovated clubs here in Atlanta. And as we invest in the physical experience on the ground and in the air, we're also continuing to set the standard for the digital travel experience. Fast, free Wi-Fi is already available to members on our 1,200 aircraft, enabling more personalized seat back and in-flight entertainment than any carrier in the sky. Last week, we took another strong step forward by announcing a game-changing partnership with Amazon Leo, bring the next generation of satellite connectivity to our aircraft. Enhanced capabilities and our growing partnerships create meaningful opportunities as we continue to build Delta Sync into a powerful platform for onboard digital engagement. This year, we expect to cross 110 million customer logins, reflecting strong adoption and growing engagement. With partners like the New York Times joining YouTube Premium, Paramount+, American Express, and T-Mobile, Delta Sync is delivering differentiated experiences that deepen customer engagement and strengthen our brand and much more to come. So in closing, the March quarter reinforces the strength and durability of the Delta model and our investment thesis. Strong demand, disciplined execution, and the benefits of the strategic choices that we've made to build a more resilient business. Most importantly, We have the best people in the industry, and that advantage cannot be replicated. With that, I'll turn it over to Joe to walk through revenue.