By Alwyn Scott
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines (N:DAL) this year carried the most passengers in a summer ever, despite a computer outage in August, Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said on Friday.
"We had the strongest summer in our history," Bastian said at an event in New York, adding that three days in July "set all-time records in terms of volume of traffic and volume of passenger flows."
Bastian's comments come after Delta reported declines during the summer months in unit revenue, which tallies the amount of passenger revenue per available seat-mile.
Bastian said traffic was up because fares were about 6 percent lower than last year, which meant revenue per passenger was down. But the airline's profit margins were "still strong," he said.