ATLANTA (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc said on Tuesday that it expected higher unit revenue for the third quarter as travel demand continues to show signs of rebounding, and its shares rose more than 4 percent.
The world's biggest airline said in a federal filing that it expected passenger revenue per available seat mile, an important measure, to rise 15 percent for the quarter.
Load factor, or the percentage of seats filled, is seen at 83 percent for September and 86 percent for the third quarter, consistent with a year earlier, Delta said in the Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
That compares with a load factor of 86.5 percent for the month of August.
Atlanta-based Delta projected operating margin, excluding profit-sharing expenses, of 12 percent to 13 percent for the quarter. That compares with 11.4 percent reported in July for the second quarter, when savings from the 2008 acquisition of Northwest Airlines partly offset profit sharing and other costs.
Airlines are beginning to recover after two years of decreased travel demand. Capacity cuts have allowed carriers to trim costs and lift fares.
Shares of Delta rose 4.3 percent to $11.12 in morning New York Stock Exchange trading after the airline disclosed the update. Most other airline stocks were also up, and the Arca Airline index <.XAL> gained 0.8 percent.
(Reporting by Karen Jacobs; Additional reporting by Kyle Peterson in Chicago; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
