Delta Air Profit Falls 36.3%

Delta Air Lines on Wednesday reported a 36.3 percent decline in quarterly profit and forecast passenger unit revenue, a closely watched metric, to increase 1-3 percent in the second quarter.

The company's net income fell to $603 million, or 82 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $946 million, or $1.21 per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, the No. 2 U.S. airline by passenger traffic earned 77 cents per share.

Total operating revenue fell 1.1 percent to $9.15 billion.

Delta said its passenger unit revenue - which compares sales with flight capacity - dropped 0.5 percent.

(Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)