Delta Air LinesCovid-19 said that its first quarter loss will be driven by the surge in the omicron version of Covid-19, but it maintained that it was still profitable. still expectsTravel demand expected to rise and turn a profit in the coming year.

Delta recorded its fourth-quarter highest revenue since late 2019. This was due in part to stronger holiday bookings as well as more business travel. Analysts had expected sales of $9.21 billion, but Delta’s revenues were $9.47 billion. Still, the company has yet to completely recover from its losses. Covid-19 crisis. In the three-months prior to the outbreak of coronavirus, revenue was 17% lower at $11.44 billion than it had been in the previous year.

After the announcement of results, Delta shares rose 2.7% in premarket trades.

Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian stated that omicron will delay travel demand’s rebound by up to 60 days.

President Glen Hauenstein reminded that “the recent rise in COVIDs related to the omicron version is expected to affect the pace of demand recovery in the first quarter. With recovery momentum returning from President’s Day weekend forward, however,

Below are the average Refinitiv estimates of Delta’s performance.

• Earnings per share adjusted: 22 cents versus 14 cents expected.

• Revenue: $9.47 billion versus $9.21 billion expected.

As fuel and other costs rose partly because of disruptions due to omicron’s spreading, Delta suffered a fourth-quarter net loss $408 million. Delta’s per-share earnings were 22 cents after accounting for some one-time costs, which is higher than the 14 cents Wall Street had expected.

Delta made $280 million in profit in the complete year. This was thanks to the $4.5 billion federal aid that it received for labor costs. Delta’s biggest loss was $12.4 billion in 2020 after the plunge in travel demand.

The first U.S. airline is to release fourth quarter results, and give detailed predictions of Omicron’s effect on the business. Omicron’s fast spread has impacted industries from theatres to restaurants. retailersAnd grocery stores.

Delta is one of the many airlines that have had to cancel thousands upon flights in response to Covid-related infections.

Delta claimed that its operation is stable and it has had to cancel 1% of the flights it operated over the last week.

The airline stated that omicron would keep bookings under control in the short-term.

In the earnings release, Delta CFO Dan Janki stated that despite expectations of a loss for the March quarter we are still positioned to produce a healthy profit during the June, September, and December quarters which will result in a significant profit in 2022.

Omicron has had little impact on investors. Delta shares have risen 3.9% through Wednesday this year, according to Thomson Reuters. UnitedAnd AmericanShares are now up by 6.3% and 3.3% respectively. These are the results. S&P 500Comparatively, the decline is 0.84%.

Delta projects first quarter revenues of 24% to 28% less than 2019, based on capacity levels 15% to 17% lower than three years ago. Delta expects a 15 percent increase in its costs, excluding fuel.

The airlines have been looking at 2019 results in order to see how far they’ve come from the pre-pandemic level.

This year’s challenges for Delta Airlines and the other airlines include increasing their hiring efforts to meet travel demand. It is a difficult task in an extremely tight labor market.

At 10:10 a.m., Delta executives will present results and discuss their outlook for 2022. ET call.

United AirlinesReports results on Wednesday after market closes. American AirlinesYou can start your day the following morning.