Delta’s Quarterly Profit off 25%

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines announced record earnings for calendar 1989 even though a sharp rise in fuel prices helped depress earnings by nearly 25% in the last three months of the year.

Delta Chairman Ronald W. Allen said Saturday that the profit dip in the October-December quarter also reflected weak passenger mile yields for Thanksgiving and Christmas, usually two of the busiest times for the airline.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, the carrier’s fiscal second quarter, Delta’s net income was $64.2 million, down from $85.2 million a year earlier.

Net income for calendar 1989 was $473.2 million, up 37% from $344.5 million in 1988.

Fuel costs rose 42% to $314.2 million in the quarter. Major U.S. airlines have cited higher fuel costs as the reason for fare hikes announced this month.

“We are very pleased with the record earnings for calendar 1989 but are disappointed with the lower earnings in the December quarter,” Allen said.

Allen said passenger mile yields--the money taken in per passenger for each mile flown--fell about 1% during the holiday season to 13.39 cents from 13.48 cents a year earlier.

Delta made numerous strides in 1989, Allen said. He said they included a 15% increase in traffic growth, a 5% increase in capacity growth, the addition of seven new domestic and two international cities in the route system and maintaining a young age for its fleet of aircraft.