Delta profits climb on higher ticket prices Delta Air Lines reported strong fourth-quarter profits as higher ticket prices more than offset an increase in fuel costs as the second-biggest US carrier by revenues squeezed more passengers on to its aircraft. Net income jumped to $425m from $19m in the same period a year earlier, giving earnings of $0.50 per share, up from $0.02. Excluding certain one-off items, such as gains on the sale of airport landing slots, net income more than doubled to $379m. Sales meanwhile increased 8 per cent to $8.4bn compared with the same period last year, thanks to a solid domestic performance and particularly strong pricing and demand in the Atlantic and Pacific regions. "Delta people pulled together in 2011 to produce a solid profit, strong cash generation and the best operational performance in the industry for our customers," said Richard Anderson, chief executive. "Looking forward to 2012, we will continue our commitment to sustained profitability and superior returns by growing and diversifying our revenues, while taking a disciplined approach to capacity, costs and capital spending," he added. Despite concerns about the debt crisis in Europe and a slowdown in China, airline analysts in recent months have become more optimistic on the outlook for US carriers, pointing to their willingness to cut flights and sustain profitability. During the fourth quarter, Delta benefited from such moves. The company cut capacity by 3.5 per cent and passenger and cargo yields - a broad measure of prices - increased sharply. "The industry is poised for earnings improvement in 2012, even amid an uncertain economic backdrop," analysts at Barclays wrote recently. Capacity reductions . . . were well timed and should offset concerns about potential revenue weakness. Deutsche Bank expects the US airline industry to post a net profit of $180m and an operating profit of $1.1bn for the fourth quarter of 2011, as well as a net profit of $2.1bn and an operating profit of $6.3bn for the full year. Ed Bastian, president of Delta, said in a statement that his airline was generating better revenues than the rest of the industry, allowing it to fully cover a $515m increase in fuel costs in the quarter. "Our revenue momentum has continued into 2012, and we are currently seeing our January consolidated passenger unit revenues up 15 per cent year over year," Mr Bastian said. Over the full year, net income climbed to $854m from $593m in the previous year on revenues that rose 11 per cent to $35.1bn. In pre-market trading, Delta shares, which have lost 18 per cent of their value over the past year in line with the rest of the US airline industry, climbed about 6 per cent to $9.90.