Delta Airlines’ cargo revenue increased 39% in its second quarter which the airline attributed to volume growth as it seeks expansion in Asia and the Middle East.
For the three months ended 30 June, Delta recorded cargo operating revenue of $294m, up from $212m in the same period last year.
The airline also fared well in the first quarter of 2026 with a 9% year on year rise in cargo operating revenue to $226m.
Joe Esposito, Delta’s executive vice president & chief commercial officer said in the airline’s second quarter earnings call on 10 July that most of the cargo revenue growth was due to volume increases, adding that the airline had benefited from the rerouting of cargo away from the Middle East and expansion in Asia.
Although airlines faced the challenge of higher jet fuel prices, following the start of the Middle East conflict there was a shift towards non-stop flights between Asia-Europe, and Asia-North America and carriers flying on these trade lanes benefitted from shipper demand.
“Most of what we saw for cargo revenue – it was a great quarter. We’re really proud of the team – was on volume.
“And you’ve had some rerouting of cargo that typically goes through the Middle East and other areas that we’ve been able to recapture.
“But it’s also the structural improvements we’ve made internally which, depending on where we’re expanding, Asia is one of the largest cargo markets from the US, and we’ve been expanding in the Asian market.
“We’ve been getting greater capability of our airplanes that we’ve been investing in. And we’ve got a lot of internal restructuring on how we approach cargoes and made it much more of a priority.”
On the subject of whether Delta expected to continue seeing cargo revenue growth in the second half of the year, Esposito added: “So, we will see strength throughout the year in cargo, probably not the 39%, but we’re going to have a really strong back half in our cargo sector.
“And that’ll play a bigger role as we continue to invest in international. Cargo is a big part of international and goes towards the profitability of our international entities.”
More specifically, Delta expects that most of its international growth is “going to be (in) Asia and Middle East”, confirmed Esposito.
