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Delta Air Lines, one of the most profitable carriers in the U.S., withheld its full year outlook for 2025, citing economic uncertainty.

“With broad economic uncertainty around global trade, growth has largely stalled. In this slower-growth environment, we are protecting margins and cash flow by focusing on what we can control,” said Delta CEO Ed Bastian. “This includes reducing planned capacity growth in the second half of the year to flat over last year while actively managing costs and capital expenditures.”

However, Bastian added that he believed the strength of Delta’s product, low fuel prices, and its “bias toward action” would help the company “deliver solid profitability.”

Delta recorded a higher profit for the first quarter compared to the same time last year. The carrier had a net income of $240 million and total revenue of $13 billion for the quarter, a 3.3% increase. 

The Atlanta-based carrier is the first of the U.S. airlines to report first quarter earnings and was largely expected to give a pulse on how consumers are responding to the economic uncertainty spurred by the Trump administration’s policies. 

‘I’m Hopeful That Sanity Will Prevail’

“It’s hard to know how this is going to play out, given that this is somewhat self-imposed,” Bastian said on a call with analysts on Wednesday. “And I’m hopeful that sanity will prevail and we’ll move through this period of time on the global trade front relatively quickly. But we’re prepared in any event to make sure that we protect Delta through this.”

Delta had released a regulatory filing in March, saying it expected slower growth in the first quarter due to declining consumer confidence and corporate demand. 

“It’s not going backwards,” Bastian said on CNBC in March. “But it’s not growing as fast as we were anticipating.”

The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration have also added uncertainty in Delta’s ability to grow its fleet and accept deliveries. Bastian said during a call with analysts on Wednesday that Delta would defer any aircraft that has a tariff. 

“We hope that this issue will be resolved through the trade discussions as compared to actions that either Delta or Airbus have to take,” Bastian said during the call.  

Premium Remains Strong

Premium and international revenues, some of Delta’s biggest sources of revenue, were also up in the first quarter. Delta said premium revenues continued to outpace main cabin, growing by 7%. The carrier’s remuneration from American Express was $2 billion in the first quarter, a 13% increase. 

“While not immune in this environment, we do continue to see greater resilience in international and our diversified revenue streams, including premium and loyalty, reflecting underlying strength of our core consumer,” Bastian said on the call. 

Delta said international revenue was mid-single digits for the first quarter. 

Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s president, said during the call that the carrier had started to see some softness in main cabin demand for both domestic and international. Due to the moderating demand, Hauenstein said Delta would reduce its capacity growth in the second half of the year. 

“While this year has started differently than we expected, we are taking action and leveraging our advantages while staying true to our long-term strategy,” he said. 

For the second quarter, Delta expected revenue to be in the range offered guidance for revenue in the range of down 2% to up 2%.

Hauenstein noted that the company hasn’t seen a drop off in international demand.

“We know that approximately $5 trillion of wealth has been wiped off the books, but we’re still about $32 billion higher than we were in 2019 in terms of the affluent cohorts, wealth factor,” Hauenstein said. “So while we’re watching closely, we haven’t seen it yet, and and we continue to see strong cash sales continue to see strong cash sales for long-haul travel as well.”

International Travel Is Also Strong, but There Are Signs of Softness

While revenues for transatlantic and Pacific travel were up in the first quarter, Hauenstein said that Delta has seen a “significant drop-off” in bookings from Canada. 

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said at an investor conference in March that the Chicago-based carrier had also seen a similar decline. 

The decline in travel demand from Canada comes as the Trump administration imposed tariffs on the country and commented on making Canada the 51st state. Canada also released a travel advisory warning citizens to “expect scrutiny” from border officials. 

Hauenstein noted that Mexico was a “mixed bag,” with some markets performing better than others. 

“We’re navigating through those waters,” he said. “And I think we will be looking at Canada and Mexico as places that we probably want to reduce our capacity levels as we move forward.”

However, transatlantic sales have been up significantly compared to last year, Hauenstein said. He noted that the uptick in transatlantic demand has been primarily fueled by Baby Boomers. 

“The other thing I would say is that the cohort that is traveling right now has an average age in Delta One in the the 60s, which means Baby Boomers are traveling,” he said. “And being a Baby Boomer, I can say this without fear of attribution, there’s only so much time to go to Europe or almost so much time to go to Australia or Japan and so you’ve got this this wealth effect where cohort of retirees is wealthier than any other cohort even with the most recent rundown and they want to go do things.”