Chow,
you are right that this is alarming for Delta. I am quite worried about the trend. A 1.2 Billion loss is a LOSS - no matter what spin the company puts on it. However, the article stated that Delta plans on spending only 600 MILLION as compared to 1 BILLION on the integration (a savings of 400 MILLION).

"...It also said it expects to spend only $600 million in cash to integrate the two companies, compared to an earlier projection of $1 billion."