00:00 Maddie
Delta set to kick off earnings this week. Brad Smith is here now with a closer look at what we can expect. Hey, Brad.
00:06 Brad Smith
Yeah, thanks so much, Maddie. Well, Delta earnings kick off this week, and here’s what to watch, especially as we’re going to be watching for how this airline really influences much of the chatter both on the street and the analyst perspective all the way through to the corporate executive perspective around navigating travel and leisure and the experience economy and what is continuing to be a very contentious consumer environment right now, especially given some of the most recent measures that we’ve been tracking in consumer confidence and consumer sentiment. Most notably here, as you think about the backdrop that these companies are entering into this earning season with, you think back to consumer confidence a couple weeks back. Yeah, there’s a lot of people out there that are still saying, I need to get away for just a little bit here. And so travel and some of that experience economy spending is still anticipated to move higher. You’ve got more of those consumers saying they’re willing to spend on that. But the dollar figures are going to be able to come into a little bit more focus with some of the forecasts that we get starting this week with Delta. Here’s what City is going to be watching as we move on throughout the rest of this earning season, especially thinking through Delta kicking things off. And this is the more premium character carrier out there among the airlines here. And what you’ll note specifically here with this is this co-branded card remuneration, i.e., how many people are using some of those rewards or swiping with their Amex or some of those other partner cards. So Delta, that comes into play from City’s perspective. For American, what they’re focusing in on there is the most most domestic exposure. That’s the airline that has the most domestic exposure here. And then additionally here, think about United. Now, this has the most international exposure, but this is also a period where United is spending to become even more premium as compared to Delta as well. And then lastly here, Southwest has been making some moderations with its own policies. Yeah, we’re talking about those baggage fees out there where bags may not be flying as free as they were before. That’s going to be coming into focus. We’ll see how much that also flows through to some of the outlet and what that means for some of the navigating consumer sentiment there. And the risky strategy is what City is calling that. And so we’ll continue to watch all that going forward throughout the rest of this earning season as we kick things off, Maddie.
04:32 Maddie
We certainly will, Brad. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
