DELTA Airlines has announced a pre-tax income of $1.45 billion for 2015, a $430 million increase over the previous year.

The airline also put its adjusted net income at $926 million or $1.18 per diluted share, up 51 percent from the December quarter of 2014.

The elated Chief Executive Officer, Richard Anderson, while reviewing the performance of the airline for the period under review noted that said the financial report had shown the commitment of the Delta people to running the best airline in the world.

Anderson said: “Our 2015 performance was a record for Delta on all fronts, with industry-leading operational performance, superior customer satisfaction, and a $5.9 billion adjusted pre-tax profit. These results show the commitment of the Delta people to running the best airline in the world every day. It’s an honour to reward their performance with $1.5 billion in profit sharing for the year.”

“As we look ahead to 2016, we have a significant opportunity to improve our performance even further. With over $3 billion in potential savings from lower fuel prices and numerous commercial, operational and cost initiatives already in place, we expect to again perform in the top tier of the S&P Industrials on earnings growth, margins, and cash flows this year despite global economic challenges”, he said.

Also speaking the airline president, Ed Bastian said, “The success of our network actions and commercial initiatives in 2015 allowed us to grow our top line and our unit revenue premium to the industry, while overcoming nearly $700 million of revenue pressure from foreign currency.

He added: “Looking ahead, the overall demand environment remains solid. The breadth of our network scale allows us to focus our commercial efforts on those areas of the business with the best opportunity such as the domestic marketplace, while reducing our exposure in some weaker international regions.