Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) stock is flying higher Tuesday after the airline upped its second-quarter profit projections and issued a full-year earnings forecast at the higher end of its prior range.
The Atlanta-based airline expects a second-quarter profit of $2.25 to $2.50 per share, up from its previous estimate of $2 to $2.25 per share. For the full year, it expects profit to come in near the high end of its $5 to $6 range.
At an investor meeting, CEO Ed Bastian pointed to strong sustained travel demand, which he expects to continue for multiple years.
A shortage of aircraft, spare parts and labor has also impacted pricing power in the industry.
"Everyone is worried about the consumer," Bastian said. "Our customer is quite strong."
Shares of Delta traded more than 4% higher at $44.98 Tuesday morning.
However, Bastian acknowledged that demand could be negatively affected by an inability to deliver services, such as in the case of storm delays.
Over the weekend, some 26,000 flights across all airlines were delayed and more than 4,000 were canceled between Saturday and Monday due to thunderstorms across the US, according to data from FlightAware.
"We can turn off demand as much as we can turn on demand by not delivering that reliability of service that customers expect," he said.
Contact Andrew Kessel at andrew.kessel@proactiveinvestors.com
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