# Delta Air Lines: Demand Index and Scorecard

Source: Passenger Index, https://passengerindex.com/web/airlines/delta/ (CC BY 4.0). Updated 2026-11-07.

The Delta Air Lines Demand Index reads Delta's monthly domestic passengers from the seats it flies, adjusted for how full US flights are running, and TSA checkpoint screenings at its 9 hubs (ATL, MSP, DTW, SLC, JFK, LGA, LAX, SEA, BOS), about three months before the official BTS T-100 figures. Each month's reading is part of the Passenger Index Pro plan; the combined index is free.

Delta Air Lines in the Airline Portal: domestic passengers from seats flown, how full flights are and TSA checkpoints, capacity from the flights that actually flew against Delta's own guidance, and our track record, in one place. Pro+ sees the quarter as it happens; Pro sees each quarter the day after Delta reports it.

## The quarter clock

- Q4 2026 (estimates): day 38 of 92
- Last report: Q3 2026 on Oct 9, 2026
- Next report (expected): Jan 12, 2027
- Q4 2026 opens to Pro: Jan 13, 2027

## What Delta guided for Q4 2026

> "With seats growing less than 2 percent, including a reduction in Main Cabin seats,"

seats less than 2% vs the same quarter a year earlier (base not stated), system (Q3 2026 release, Oct 9, 2026). Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/27904/000002790426000035/deltaairlinesannouncessept.htm

## Track record

Average miss over 14 quarters: 0.3 points (correlation 0.99).

| Quarter | Our read | Delta reported | Gap (pts) | Released |
|---|--:|--:|--:|---|
| Q2 2026 | +1.8% | +2.0% | 0.2 | Jul 10, 2026 |
| Q1 2026 | +1.6% | +1.0% | 0.6 | Apr 8, 2026 |
| Q4 2025 | +0.8% | +1.0% | 0.2 | Jan 13, 2026 |
| Q3 2025 | +3.6% | +4.0% | 0.4 | Oct 9, 2025 |
| Q2 2025 | +4.0% | +4.0% | 0.1 | Jul 10, 2025 |
| Q1 2025 | +4.3% | +4.0% | 0.3 | Apr 9, 2025 |
| Q4 2024 | +5.6% | +6.0% | 0.4 | Jan 10, 2025 |
| Q3 2024 | +2.9% | +3.0% | 0.1 | Oct 10, 2024 |
| Q2 2024 | +7.7% | +8.0% | 0.3 | Jul 11, 2024 |
| Q1 2024 | +2.9% | +2.0% | 0.9 | Apr 10, 2024 |
| Q4 2023 | +12.3% | +12.0% | 0.3 | Jan 12, 2024 |
| Q3 2023 | +11.4% | +11.0% | 0.4 | Oct 12, 2023 |
| Q2 2023 | +8.7% | +9.0% | 0.3 | Jul 13, 2023 |
| Q1 2023 | +7.2% | +7.0% | 0.2 | Apr 13, 2023 |

The demand index month by month and Q4 2026 to date are in the Pro and Pro+ plans: https://passengerindex.com/web/plans/.

## Hubs

ATL, MSP, DTW, SLC, JFK, LGA, LAX, SEA, BOS

## How it is measured

Each month's figure blends two reads of the airline's domestic passengers, year over year. Six tenths is the change in seats on all the airline's domestic flights (mainline plus its own regional brands), adjusted by the change in how full US domestic flights are nationally. Seats come from BTS T-100 for the months BTS has published; before that from BTS's on-time flight records and Passenger Index flight activity data (air traffic flight messages), with seats for each aircraft type from T-100. How full flights are is TSA's national daily checkpoint count against every airline's domestic seats, compared with the same month a year earlier and corrected by half its average miss against BTS over the latest 12 published months. Four tenths is the change in passengers screened at TSA checkpoints at the airline's hubs, from TSA's checkpoint throughput files (FOIA): where an airline has its own terminal, only that terminal's checkpoints are counted, elsewhere the whole airport is, and days a checkpoint reported only partly are dropped; hubs are weighted by the airline's domestic passengers boarding there in the prior full year. The actual figure is the airline's domestic boardings on all its flights from BTS T-100, which BTS publishes about three months after the month ends. The current month compares the days so far with the same weekdays a year earlier. The backtest uses T-100 seats for every month and the national estimate of how full flights were; the seat estimates used for the newest months matched T-100 within about half a point for most airlines when checked on July 2026. Until November 2026 the index read seats and TSA at the hubs only, compared with boardings at the hubs; the change tracks what airlines report better.

- Seats are capacity, not passengers. The seat side assumes the airline's planes fill like the industry's; the TSA side at its hubs is what shows an airline-specific change.
- TSA counts people starting a trip. Connecting passengers don't pass security again, and TSA can't tell domestic from international departures, while the official figure is domestic only.
- A month with no seat data yet is read from TSA alone until BTS posts its flight records, and is marked so.
- November has no reading in any year because of gaps in the TSA files.
- Checkpoint layouts change, so the airports and checkpoints behind each index are reviewed periodically.

- **Seats:** Each flight's seats are estimated from its aircraft type and the seats airlines fly on that type (BTS T-100, latest 12 months); seat-miles are seats times the great-circle distance. The share of flights without a seat estimate is shown with the figures.
- **Airline:** Flights are counted with the airline that sells the seats: SkyWest, Republic, Envoy, PSA, Endeavor and the other regional partners count with United, Delta or American as they fly for them.
- **Scope:** Domestic: flights between US airports, each once. To and from the US: domestic plus international flights departing or arriving at US airports; flying wholly outside the US is not included. The international part is marked provisional until it has been checked against BTS T-100 for the airline.
- **Last year:** Each day is compared with the same weekday a year earlier: domestic flights from BTS On-Time with the same seat method, international seat-miles from BTS T-100 for that quarter, split by month in the airline's own T-100 pattern.
- **Q4 2026:** Our flight activity starts on October 26, 2026. October 1 to 25 is estimated, for domestic flying only, from adsb.lol aircraft position reports: each airline's departures between US airports are counted from the position tracks and given seats from the same aircraft-type table, then its flights, seats and seat-miles are each divided by that airline's ratio of position-report counts to our flight activity over October 27 to 31. BTS On-Time replaces these days when it publishes October (about mid-December). International flying is not estimated, so seat-miles to and from the US start on October 26, and a call against guidance needs 30 days of our own flight activity. Airport figures do not use these estimates.
- **Passengers per seat:** TSA screenings at the airline's hub checkpoints against the domestic seats departing those hubs, as an index: 100 is the same ratio as the same week last year. TSA does not see connecting passengers, so it is a trend, not a load factor.
- **Guidance:** Each airline's own capacity guidance, quoted from its earnings release or 8-K with the date. Never consensus: we have no estimates data.

Demand: the Delta Demand Index tracked Delta's domestic boardings on all its flights (BTS T-100) with a correlation of 0.91 over 33 months.
Seat-miles, flying to and from the US: rebuilt from BTS T-100 with regional partners assigned to Delta, our scope's growth matched Delta's reported growth with a correlation of 1.000 over 14 quarters (2023Q1 to 2026Q2); average gap +0.03 pts, standard deviation 0.08 pts, covering 100.0% of the reported figure over the last four quarters.
Seat-miles, domestic flying: rebuilt from BTS T-100 with regional partners assigned to Delta, our scope's growth matched Delta's reported growth with a correlation of 0.994 over 14 quarters (2023Q1 to 2026Q2); average gap +0.06 pts, standard deviation 0.39 pts.
Last year's side: flights from BTS On-Time with our seat method came to 98.5% to 98.9% of T-100's domestic seat-miles in each quarter of 2025.
This proves the scope and last year's side. Our own seat estimates for this year are checked against BTS On-Time and T-100 as each month is published (October in mid-December).

Not real-time, not a load factor and not a forecast of earnings. Compared with company guidance only.

## Frequently asked questions

### Where can I see the latest Delta Demand Index reading?

Each month's reading and the official BTS T-100 figure beside it are in the Passenger Index Pro plan, through the last quarter Delta has reported; the month to date is in Pro+. The combined index is free (https://passengerindex.com/web/airlines/).

### How accurate is it for Delta?

Demand: the Delta Demand Index tracked Delta's domestic boardings on all its flights (BTS T-100) with a correlation of 0.91 over 33 months. Seat-miles, flying to and from the US: rebuilt from BTS T-100 with regional partners assigned to Delta, our scope's growth matched Delta's reported growth with a correlation of 1.000 over 14 quarters (2023Q1 to 2026Q2); average gap +0.03 pts, standard deviation 0.08 pts, covering 100.0% of the reported figure over the last four quarters.

### Which airports does the Delta Demand Index use?

Seats count every airport Delta flies from. The TSA side uses its hubs: ATL, MSP, DTW, SLC, JFK, LGA, LAX, SEA, BOS, each weighted by Delta's domestic passengers there in the prior full year.

### What is BTS T-100?

The official count of airline passengers is BTS T-100: the US Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics compiles every US airline's monthly report of passengers carried on each route. BTS publishes it on a lag of about three months, so its latest figures are for July 2026 while the TSA data here runs to October 31, 2026. The Airline Demand Index reads the same trend from faster sources: the seats on the flights each airline actually flew, which Passenger Index counts the next morning, how full US flights are running nationally (TSA's daily checkpoint count against every airline's seats), and TSA screenings at the airline's hubs, which TSA releases weekly. So it gives a near-real-time look at where airline traffic is heading.

### Why does Pro wait until Delta reports?

Pro is the finished record. The quarter in progress, and the weeks between quarter-end and the earnings release, are what Pro+ is for. Each quarter opens to Pro the day after the release.

### Is this real-time?

No. Flights are counted the next morning; TSA's airport files arrive weekly, 1 to 2 weeks behind. Each figure says the day it runs to.

### Is passengers per seat a load factor?

No. TSA counts travelers starting their trip, not connecting passengers, so it is a trend index: 100 means the same ratio as the same week last year.

### Which capacity is compared with guidance?

Domestic seat-miles first: domestic coverage is complete and last year's side is checked against BTS T-100. A system seat-mile guide is compared with seat-miles to and from the US once the airline's international flying has passed its own check; until then only where international is a small share of the airline's flying (Southwest). Delta guides on seats, so Delta is compared on domestic seats. A verdict appears only once 30 days of the quarter are in, and only where the seat-mile backtest passed.

### Does it forecast earnings?

No. It shows what flew and who was screened, against what the airline said it would fly. It is compared with company guidance only, never with analysts' estimates.