Summary of Significant Accounting Policies (Policies)

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2021

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Basis of Presentation

Basis of Presentation

The accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements include the accounts of Delta Air Lines, Inc. and our consolidated subsidiaries and have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP") for interim financial information. Consistent with these requirements, this Form 10-Q does not include all the information required by GAAP for complete financial statements. As a result, this Form 10-Q should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and accompanying Notes in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Management believes the accompanying unaudited Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements reflect all adjustments, including normal recurring items, considered necessary for a fair statement of results for the interim periods presented.

Due to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic and the uncertain pace of recovery, seasonal variations in the demand for air travel, the volatility of aircraft fuel prices and other factors, operating results for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of operating results for the entire year.

We reclassified certain prior period amounts to conform to the current period presentation. Unless otherwise noted, all amounts disclosed are stated before consideration of income taxes.

Regional Carrier Expense

Regional Carrier Expense

We previously allocated certain costs (such as landing fees and other rents, salaries and related costs and contracted services) to regional carrier expense in our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income/(Loss) ("income statement") based on relevant statistics (such as passenger counts). Beginning in the March 2021 quarter we ceased performing this allocation and have reclassified the costs presented in prior periods to align with this presentation. This reclassification better reflects the nature of, and how management views, these regional carrier related expenses. This allocation was approximately $900 million in 2020, including approximately $200 million in the September 2020 quarter, and $1.4 billion in 2019, including approximately $360 million in the September 2019 quarter. The remaining amounts in regional carrier expense represent the accrual of payments to our regional carriers under capacity purchase agreements and the expenses of our wholly owned regional subsidiary, Endeavor Air, Inc.