• A $3 million net charge primarily for facilities restructuring and severance.
December 2009 Quarter Guidance
Delta's projections for the December 2009 quarter are below. This guidance is presented on a combined basis(6).
4Q 2009 Forecast 2009 Forecast
---------------- -------------

Fuel price, including taxes and
hedges $2.14 $2.14
Operating margin Breakeven Breakeven
Capital expenditures $250 million $1.4 billion
Total liquidity as of Dec. 31, 2009 $5.0 billion


4Q 2009 Forecast
(compared to 4Q
2008) 2009 vs. 2008
---------------- -------------

Consolidated unit costs - excluding
fuel expense Up 3 - 4% Up 2 - 3%
Mainline unit costs - excluding fuel
expense Up 3 - 4% Up 2 - 3%

System capacity Down 9 - 11% Down 7 - 9%
Domestic Down 5 - 7% Down 7 - 9%
International Down 14 - 16% Down 7 - 9%

Mainline capacity Down 9 - 11% Down 7 - 9%
Domestic Down 6 - 8% Down 7 - 9%
International Down 14 - 16% Down 6 - 8%


Other Matters
Included with this press release are Delta's Consolidated Statements of Operations for the three and nine months ended Sept. 30, 2009 and 2008; a statistical summary for those periods; selected balance sheet data as of Sept. 30, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2008; and a reconciliation of certain non-GAAP financial measures.
About Delta
Delta Air Lines is the world's No. 1 airline. From its hubs in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Salt Lake City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam and Tokyo-Narita, Delta, its Northwest subsidiary and Delta Connection carriers offer service to 355 destinations in 64 countries and serve more than 170 million passengers each year. Delta's marketing alliances allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on more than 16,000 daily flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta's more than 70,000 employees worldwide are reshaping the aviation industry as the only U.S. airline to offer a full global network. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and flight status at delta.com.
Endnotes
1. Note A to the attached Consolidated Statements of Operations provides a reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures used in this release and provides the reasons management uses those measures.
2. Combined financial information includes the combined results of Delta and Northwest for the September 2008 quarter.
3. Delta's financial results under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) include the results of Northwest Airlines for the periods following the completion of the merger, which occurred on Oct. 29, 2008. Unless otherwise indicated, Delta presents financial results on a GAAP basis which reflects both Delta and Northwest financial results for the September 2009 quarter, but only Delta standalone results for the September 2008 quarter. The company also presents financial and operating information on a "combined basis", which management believes is more meaningful for comparing year-over-year performance. The combined basis compares Delta's GAAP results for the September 2009 quarter to the combined results of Delta and Northwest for the September 2008 quarter.
4. Delta excludes from mainline unit cost ancillary businesses not related to the generation of a seat mile, including Delta's providing maintenance and staffing services to third parties, dedicated freighter operations and Delta's vacation wholesale operations. Similarly, Delta excludes from passenger unit revenues, and includes in other revenue, revenues received for providing aircraft maintenance and staffing services to third parties, freighter operations and MLT. Management believes these classifications provide a more consistent and comparable reflection of Delta's mainline operations.
5. Delta's September 2009 quarter average fuel price of $2.13 per gallon reflects the consolidated cost per gallon for mainline and regional operations, including contract carrier operations, net of fuel hedge impact.
6. Year-over-year guidance comparisons assume the 2008 financial information for the applicable periods include Delta and Northwest results for the entire period, excluding special items and out-of-period fuel hedge losses.
Submission of Stockholder Proposals
To be considered for inclusion in the Delta proxy statement for the 2010 annual meeting, stockholder proposals must be submitted in writing and received no later than 5:00 p.m., local time, on Dec. 30, 2009 at