(BFM Stock Exchange) – The American airline has lowered its prospects for the first quarter, evoking a drop in the confidence of consumers and businesses linked to economic uncertainty in the United States. This leads Air France-KLM and the other airline carriers on the stock market.

Delta Airlines expects to cross a zone of turbulence at the start of 2025. The airline lowered its prospects for its first quarter on Monday, March 10, referring to a drop in consumer confidence in the United States.

The company is now counting on an increase in its quarterly turnover from 3% to 4% over one year to reach 12.9 to 13.1 billion dollars. The operating margin is expected between 4% and 5%. Net profit per adjusted action should be between 30 and 50 cents.

Delta Air Lines clearly saved its anticipations compared to its forecasts unveiled on January 10 on the sidelines of the announcement its annual results. At the start of the year, Delta Air Lines displayed a frank optimism on the orientation of demand and tapped on growth of 7% to 9% of its income, an operating margin of 6% to 8% and a net profit per adjusted share between 70 cents and a dollar. The company also said it had “very good visibility for the first quarter and spring”.

But the latest statistics on the morale of the American consumer have somewhat shaken the confidence of Delta Airlines. At the end of February, the consumer confidence index measured by the Conference Board, was significantly lower than expectations, even falling to an eight month.

“The prospects were affected by the recent drop in confidence in consumers and businesses, due to increased macroeconomic uncertainty, which has led to a slowdown in domestic demand,” said Delta Airlines in a statement to the SECURITIES EXCHANGE Commission, the American stock market gendarme. Delta Airlines made this announcement upstream of its participation in the JPMorgan conference organized this Tuesday, March 11, which brings together other airlines.

Consumer distrust

In addition to a morale of American households at half mast, the director general Ed Bastian also added that recent air disasters had also fueled consumer distrust towards this industry.

The disaster landing of a Delta Airlines regional plane a few weeks after the crash of an Airlines American apparatus has cooled some customers to fly, said Ed Bastian during an interview with CNBC on Monday.

“These events have somewhat exacerbated the impact on us,” he said. “It is not only a question of companies and consumers, but also the question of security in our sector. We know that flights are safe,” he continued.

“All of these factors have had a cumulative effect that has led to the magnitude of the impact we are talking about – this is an impact of around $ 500 million in the quarter,” added Ed Bastian.

The activity of high -end and international segments remain in accordance with previous forecasts, added the airline in the same document. Delta Airlines has also not changed its forecasts at this stage for the whole year, thanks to the recent drop in oil prices.

In January, the company had declared to expect 2025 to be the most profitable year of its 100 years of existence, expecting for example to reveal a net profit per share of $ 7.35.

A heavy fall in action in post-march

Sheila Kahyaglu, analyst at Jefferies expected the airline to reduce her forecasts, “but the magnitude is more important” than feared by the specialist.

Following these announcements, Delta Airlines dropped post market on the New York Stock Exchange by more than 13%, which herself experienced a hectic Monday.

In its wake, European aerior companies suffer this Tuesday morning. Air France-KLM releases 6.5%, IAG (Mother house of Iberia and British Airways) restores 3.5%and Lufthansa lost 2.80%.

This net decline of Air France-KLM on the stock market compared to its European counterparts is also to be put in perspective with the historic increase signed by its action Thursday, March 6. The Franco-Netherlands airline had burst by almost 33% driven by results above expectations and forecasts that had taken the analysts short.

But a few days after the publication of high-flying results, Bernstein decided that the party is over for Air France-KLM on the stock market. On Monday, the design office lowered its advice to “market performance” against “outperformance, believing that the company will find it difficult to reduce its costs.