With passenger revenues declining due to the coronavirus-triggered bearish air-travel demand, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) DAL is focusing on its cargo-only flights. To this end, the carrier decided to operate daily flights connecting Seoul-Incheon with Detroit. Moreover, cargo-special flights will operate four-times a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday) on the Incheon-Los Angeles route and thrice a week (Monday, Thursday, Saturday) connecting Incheon and Atlanta.
The decision is aimed at keeping the supply chain of medical equipment like surgical masks, gloves, gowns and other protective gear operative between the United States and Asia. While Delta will use its Boeing (NYSE:BA) 777-200ER aircraft to operate the Atlanta and Los Angeles flights, Airbus A350-900 aircraft will ply on the Incheon-Detroit routes for carrying cargo.
Both jets have the capacity to carry up to 42 tons of cargo on international routes. Per the schedule, the cargo on arrival in Atlanta, Detroit or Los Angeles will be transferred to domestic passenger flights so that they can be shipped to other destinations in the country.
Further deepening its focus on cargo-only flights, Delta launched its Cargo Control Center in Atlanta to support global cargo services on a daily basis. This new facility will address all aspects of cargo transportation and management, which in turn, will ease the tracking of air shipments, trucks, mail and freight, both domestically and internationally.
With passenger demand plummeting, the cargo-only operations might help Delta recoup a bit of its lost revenues.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Delta carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Transportation sector are Ryanair Holdings (NASDAQ:RYAAY) RYAAY, Teekay Tankers (NYSE:TNK) Ltd. TNK and Nordic American Tankers Ltd. NAT, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Ryanair has an impressive earnings history, having outperformed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 62.7%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Teekay (NYSE:TK) Tanker’s current-year earnings has been revised 35.6% upward in the past 60 days.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Nordic American Tankers’ current-year earnings has moved 14.1% north in the past 60 days.
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Ryanair Holdings PLC (RYAAY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Delta Air Lines, Inc. (DAL): Free Stock Analysis Report
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