Record setting 3QTR earnings for Delta

The nation's third largest airline reports it has posted its highest record earnings ever for the three month period ending September 2007. Thanks to expanded international travel routes, the quarter marks a revenue highpoint for Atlanta-based Delta Airlines.

Delta's net income of the third quarter is 220-million versus 52 million for the same period ending 2006. But, with oil prices hovering around 80 dollars a barrel, Delta's Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian says the company may be forced to reduce domestic service. "Internationally, where all our growth is going, obviously there's not a lot of alternatives to air travel. So, I think we have much greater opportunity to pass those prices increases through than on the domestic system."

Delta does not plan to buy new planes in the near future, but instead will refurbish its existing fleet.