Delta Air Lines reported a significant reduction in its fuel expenses for 2024, despite an increase in fuel usage by over 5% compared to the previous year. The airline’s annual report filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on February 11 indicated that Delta consumed $4.1 billion worth of fuel in gallons, up from $3.9 billion in 2023 and $3.4 billion in 2022. Nevertheless, Delta spent the least amount on fuel in 2024, with a total bill of $10.5 billion.
The average price per gallon decreased to $2.57 in 2024 from $2.82 in 2023 and $3.36 in 2022. Despite fluctuations in fuel prices, Delta has managed to keep costs down as its fleet expanded from 1,062 aircraft in 2019 to 1,292 aircraft by the end of 2024.
Delta’s cost per available seat mile (CASM) excluding fuel (CASM-ex) rose from 12.87¢ in 2019 to 13.54¢ by the end of 2024 due to inflationary pressures and new agreements with pilot unions. However, overall CASM decreased by about 4% during this period.
Between 2019 and 2024, Delta’s efforts towards fleet renewal resulted in a notable improvement of approximately 6.6% in fleet-wide fuel efficiency. In the past year alone, Delta added new aircraft including Airbus A220-300s, A321neos, A330-900s, and A350-900s which are on average “28% more fuel efficient per seat mile than the aircraft it has been retiring since 2019.” The airline also invested in retrofitting existing planes with updated technologies aimed at reducing fuel consumption.
Delta is fitting split-scimitar winglets on its Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft—a process completed for the Boeing 737-900ER model and expected to finish for the Boeing 737-800 fleet by late 2025—anticipating potential savings of over three million gallons of fuel.
In terms of financial performance, Delta disclosed net income figures for Q4 and full-year results for 2024 on January 10: a net income of $843 million for Q4 and $3.4 billion for the entire year were reported as non-adjusted figures; adjusted quarterly net income was $1.2 billion while full-year adjusted net income stood at $3.9 billion.
CEO Ed Bastian expressed optimism about continued strong demand for travel into this year, highlighting consumer interest in premium products offered by Delta Air Lines.
