Delta Air shares close lower on Thursday, company leases 2 Airbus A350-900 jets from Vmo Aircraft

Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL) said earlier this week it had signed a long-term lease agreement with San Francisco-based Vmo Aircraft Leasing for two Airbus A350-900 jets, delivered in October 2021.

“We are very pleased to partner with Delta Air Lines on executing this transaction for these latest-technology Airbus A350 aircraft,” Peter Watson, Vmo Aircraft Leasing’s Chief Commercial Officer, said in a statement.

“This new relationship demonstrates our continuing commercial outreach and efforts to support airline operators as they restore capacity amidst an improving demand environment while maintaining focus on the most environmentally beneficial fleet,” he added.

“These aircraft align with Delta’s innovative and opportunistic approach toward widebody fleet renewal and simplification while remaining focused on increasing efficiency and reducing our carbon footprint,” Mahendra Nair, Senior Vice President of Fleet and TechOps Supply Chain at Delta Air Lines, said in a press release.

Delta Air shares closed lower for the sixth time in the past ten trading sessions in New York on Thursday. The stock went down 0.61% ($0.25) to $40.99, after touching an intraday high at $41.49. The latter has been a price level not seen since October 15th ($42.27).

Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc have risen 1.94% so far in 2021 compared with a 24.60% gain for the benchmark index, S&P 500 (SPX).

In 2020, Delta Air’s stock went down 31.24%, thus, it again underperformed the S&P 500, which registered a 16.26% gain.

Analyst stock price forecast and recommendation

According to TipRanks, at least 8 out of 12 surveyed investment analysts had rated Delta Air Lines Inc’s stock as “Hold”, while 4 – as “Buy”. The median price target on the stock stands at $52.00.