Almost all (96%) of Delta Air Lines’ corporate travel customers responding to a survey expect to travel as much or more in the first quarter of this year against the fourth quarter of 2022, according to Glen Hauenstein, president, speaking on a fourth-quarter earnings call on Friday. Bookings in the new year, he said, reflect the survey optimism and are accelerating.

The airline, said Hauenstein, had its highest post-pandemic days in terms of corporate bookings over the previous week or 10 days. He said the company expects corporate travel to stay at roughly 80% of 2019 levels, although the survey indicates it might be better than that.

Ed Bastian, CEO, said the return of corporate travel might be “choppy” because a lot of businesses are still struggling to get their employees back into the office. He said that as employees return to the office, “you are going to see another step-up, in my opinion, of return to more normal trends, including improved business travel.” He said that many big accounts served by Delta are consultancies, legal firms and accounting firms. It’s tough for them, said Bastian, to get out on the road if the offices of their clients and customers are not open.

Delta reported fourth-quarter 2022 net income of $828 million, down from the $1.1 billion reported in the corresponding period of 2019; however, fourth-quarter 2022 revenue of $13.44 billion was up from $11.44 billion in that period of 2019. Fourth-quarter passenger revenue was $10.89 billion, up 6.3% from the $10.25 billion reported three years ago.

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Full-year net income was $1.32 billion on revenue of $50.58 billion. Net income was down from the $4.77 billion reported in 2019, while revenue increased from $47 billion. Passenger revenue in 2022 was $40.22 billion, down about 4.9% from 2019.