Airlines: Delta Connection, United Express, USAirways Express.
Delta Boosted by Connection Carriers
Delta Connection carriers contributed $947 million in operating revenues to Delta, up 10.4 percent over the year-ago period. Expenses for its contract carrier operations reached $717 million, up 17.7 percent. The airline did not itemize other regional carrier factors in favor of consolidating them with its own report. Delta Connection carriers include contract carrier agreements with Atlantic Southeast Airlines, Inc., Chautauqua Airlines, Inc., Freedom Airlines, Inc., Shuttle America Corporation, and SkyWest, Inc; and ExpressJet Airlines, Inc. from February 27, 2007 to March 31, 2007.
Delta Connection contributions were also up from the 2006 fourth quarter when contributions added $944 million to the major carrier’s operating revenues. Related Story
Delta’s operating profit for the March 2007 quarter was $155 million, the company’s fourth consecutive quarterly operating profit. Delta reported a net loss of $130 million in the first quarter of 2007, compared to a net loss of $2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2006. Excluding the reorganization and special items, the net loss was $6 million in the first quarter of 2007, a $350 million improvement compared to the net loss of $356 million in the first quarter of 2006. For the March 2007 quarter, Delta’s operating income was $155 million and its operating margin was 3.7 percent – an improvement of more than 8 points over the prior year period, excluding special items. As of March 31, 2007, Delta had $4.0 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments, of which $2.9 billion was unrestricted.

United Express Operations Down in Q1
Results from United's (UAUA) regional affiliate operations were relatively flat year-over-year. Revenue from regional affiliates increased by $6 million $657 million 0.9 percent, while regional affiliates' expense decreased by $4 million to $692 million or 0.6 percent over the year-ago quarter. Revenue passenger miles increased 5.4 percent to 2.977 billion. For the fourth quarter 2006, United Express contributed $698 million, a 14.2 percent increase. However costs were up 0.9 percent to $700 million for the quarter. The airline lost money on its Express operations in 2006. Related Story
Express carriers are expected to increase capacity by 7.5 percent to 8.5 percent as mainline capacity rises only one half of one percent or remain flat. For the year mainline capacity will grow one percent.
Regional affiliate PRASM was down 4.2 percent to 17.81 cents in the first quarter compared to last year, with 5.2 percent capacity growth to 3.929 billion. Load factor was flat at a 0.2 point increase to 75.8 percent. Yield declined 4.3 percent to 22.67 cents compared to the first quarter of 2006. CASM declined 5.5 percent to 12.67 cents. Expenses include aircraft rents of $107 million and $114 million for the three months ended March 31, 2007 and 2006, respectively. Regional affiliates fuel consumption was 92 million gallons unchanged from the year-ago period while the average jet fuel price dropped 1.7 percent to 209.9 cents per gallon. United now has 289 aircraft in is regional affiliate fleet, down 3.7 percent from the year-ago period.
UAL reported a net loss of $152 million. UAL's pre-tax loss of $236 million was an improvement of $70 million year-over-year, excluding reorganization items. UAL continued its strong cost performance, with first quarter mainline CASM decreasing by 4.3 percent from the first quarter of 2006.

USAirways Express Fiscal Results Flat
USAirways Express operations contributed $609 million to USAirways’ (LCC) results, down 0.3 percent from the year-earlier period. Fuel expenses were down 10.8 percent to $153 million for Express carriers while other expenses rose 5.2 percent to $467 million. Express Revenue passenger miles dropped two percent to 2.383 billion along with available seat miles, down 5.8 percent to 3.448 billion. Load factor was up 2.7 points to 69.1 percent. PRASM was up 5.7 percent to 17.66 cents.CASM rose 6.9 percent to 17.98 cents. Enplanements were flat at 0.8 percent growth to 5,955,000
Express includes US Airways Group's wholly owned regional airline subsidiaries, Piedmont Airlines and PSA Airlines, US Airways' MidAtlantic regional jet division, through May 27, 2006, as well as operating and financial results from capacity purchase agreements with Mesa Airlines (MESA), Chautauqua Airlines, Air Wisconsin Airlines and Republic Airlines.
US Airways Group, Inc. reported net profit for the first quarter was $66 million, or $0.70 per diluted share, compared to a net profit before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle of $64 million, or $0.75 per diluted share for the same period last year. Excluding net credits from special items of $32 million, the company reported a net profit of $34 million, or $0.37 per diluted share. This compares to a net profit, before cumulative effect of change in accounting principle of $5 million, or $0.05 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2006, which excludes net credits from special items of $59 million.