Pain at the pump
To tame its volatile fuel bill, Delta Air Lines bought a refinery and ramped up its trading of complicated fuel hedging contracts, but those efforts ultimately added more than $3 billion to its costs over the past seven years. The figures below show Delta’s combined annual losses or gains from its fuel hedge trading and refinery operations.
2009 -$1.4 billion
2010 -$89 million
2011 $446 million
2012 -$156 million
2013 $52 million
2014 $184 million
2015 -$1.9 billion
2016* -$146 million
Total -$3.0 billion
* First quarter 2016
Source: Company filings to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Delta Air Lines spent millions of dollars on a refinery and complex oil trading to trim its $8 billion-plus annual jet fuel bill, but those efforts ultimately increased its costs by more than $3 billion since 2009, an analysis by the Atlanta Journal Constitution shows.
The Atlanta carrier has long used so-called hedging contracts to help tame its volatile fuel bill.
But starting in 2011, Delta jumped into the oil business with both feet, setting up a Wall Street-style oil trading desk, and even buying a refinery a year later.
Those moves brought new complications — including rogue trading by the man Delta hired to straighten out its hedging operations.
To see how Delta's foray into the oil ultimately turned out to be risky business, see our coverage on myAJC.com.
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