“Better than expected” is a description that may, on very rare occasions, be applied to the mostly mediocre wine on a long-haul flight. Thursday, however, Delta Air Lines’ investors applied it to the carrier’s latest quarterly earnings instead of its vino. The first US airline to report its performance for the three months through September, Delta topped profit estimates and predicted that demand for luxury travel and climbing airfares will help it maintain higher altitudes through the end of 2025 and ear ...

Delta Air Lines forecast a better-than-expected end to 2025 thanks to rising airfares and resilient luxury travel demand.The airline on Thursday projected adjusted earnings of between $1.60 and $1.90 a share for the fourth quarter, compared with the $1.65 per share analysts polled by LSEG were expecting. Revenue in the last three months of the year will grow as much as 4%, Delta said, above the 1.7% Wall Street expects."Looking to 2026, Delta is well positioned to deliver top-line growth, margin expansion a ...