Originally Posted by
T773ER
These numbers look compelling on the surface but the comparison is largely apples-to-oranges, and here's why:
The pre-tax income gap is mostly noise. UAL's $870M GAAP pre-tax includes $444M in sale-leaseback gains on aircraft transactions — essentially UAL sold planes and leased them back, booking a one-time accounting gain that flows straight through to pre-tax income. Strip that out and UAL's adjusted pre-tax is $498M vs Delta's $532M. Delta actually wins on an adjusted basis, which is the only number that reflects actual airline operations.Pre-tax loss of $214 million with a pre-tax margin of (1.4) percent.
Your comparison itself is "apples to oranges". You adjusted United's GAAP earnings, but not Delta's, instead choosing to just use operating earnings for Delta but GAAP for United. I used the same for both.
These are pre-tax GAAP earnings for both airlines.
United $498M - Delta $214 pre-tax LOSS.
From delta's own press release
https://ir.delta.com/news/news-detai...s/default.aspx
March Quarter 2026 GAAP Financial Results
Operating revenue of $15.9 billion
Operating income of $501 million with an operating margin of 3.2 percent
Pre-tax loss of $214 million with a pre-tax margin of (1.4) percent
Loss per share of ($0.44)
Operating cash flow of $2.4 billion