Delta Air Lines has said the United States’ 43-day government shutdown will impact its profits next quarter by around US$200 million.
Bookings have now rebounded after the shutdown ended last month, the company said ahead of its webcast at the Morgan Stanley Global Consumer & Retail Conference. The U.S. cut flight capacity at 40 major airports during the shutdown, as air traffic controllers were not being paid.
“At the conference, Delta is disclosing that demand remains healthy for the December quarter and trends are strong for early 2026,” Delta wrote.
“Growth in travel bookings has returned to initial expectations following a temporary softening in November related to the government shutdown, which is expected to impact the Company’s December quarter pre-tax profitability by approximately $200 million, equating to approximately 25 cents of earnings per share.”
Delta’s pre-tax income last quarter was $1.78 billion, a 14% increase from the previous year.
Around 10,100 U.S. flights were cancelled from 7 November to 16 November, after the Federal Aviation Administration told commercial airlines to cut up to 6% of domestic flights at major airports.
The U.S. has also had an air traffic controller shortage in recent years. Last year, the country had 11,686 certified controllers working professionally or in training, about 4,000 fewer than the FAA’s target.
During the shutdown, 20 to 25 air traffic controllers were retiring per day as they worked without pay, according to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Before the shutdown, around four air traffic controllers retired each day.
The government shutdown had lowered the U.S.’ quarterly gross domestic product growth by 0.8% by 7 November, an EY Parthenon report estimated.
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