Delta Offers Sunnier Revenue Forecast Based on Travel Demand

Delta Air Lines has reaffirmed its earnings forecast based on ongoing travel demand.

The company made this announcement Thursday (Sept. 11), while also raising its projections for third quarter revenue through September, from 0% to 4% growth to 2% to 4%.

It’s a much rosier projection than the one airlines offered earlier in the year, as White House tariffs and budget cuts helped dampen travel demand.

“Turbulence is right in the flight path,” PYMNTS wrote in March as the airlines, along with a number of retailers, reported gloomy sales outlooks.

“When companies lower their first quarter forecasts — as Delta and others have done — even before the quarter’s done, in part it’s to get ahead of news that will shake investors, and perhaps it can help soften volatility in stock prices.”

Travel demand has since picked up, as a number of airline executives this summer said they were confident air traffic would pick up as the year went on. Delta itself reported record revenue in July as the company logged “resilience in our diverse, high-margin revenue streams,” as Delta President Glen Hauenstein put it.

In other travel-related news, recent research by PYMNTS Intelligence examined the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by airlines and the hospitality sector.

According to the report “At Your Service: Generative AI Arrives in Travel and Hospitality,” airlines view AI as a way to manage passenger communications more effectively, while hotels see a chance to personalize marketing and support. On the customer side of things, travelers expressed curiosity about offloading trip planning to algorithms, although they were wary of how much they could trust the machines.

The research found that 52% of hospitality customers “expect generative AI will play a role in customer interactions, such as support and engagement, underscoring how quickly expectations for digital service have shifted,” PYMNTS wrote.

Fifty-six percent of travelers said they would use generative AI for restaurant recommendations, a sign that consumers already view AI as a digital concierge for dining, hotels and activities.

And 20% of aviation maintenance technician jobs could go unfilled by 2033, a shortage airlines are looking to generative AI to help address, not by replacing mechanics but by cutting down on the time spent troubleshooting and reporting.

“Yet the same qualities that make AI valuable — speed, scale and realism — have been exploited by bad actors,” PYMNTS wrote.

“Booking.com last year reported a 900% surge in travel scams over 18 months, many of them driven by AI-crafted phishing emails and fake listings.”