OREANDA-NEWS. A restructured hedge book pushed first quarter fuel costs higher for Delta Air Lines despite lower market prices for jet fuel and another profitable quarter at the airline's refinery.

Delta subsidiary Monroe Energy's 185,000 b/d refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, produced an \$86mn profit for the quarter ending 31 March. Fuel purchase costs fell by roughly \$1bn, to \$1.72bn, compared to the same quarter of 2014. But hedging losses added \$467mn to fuel costs for the quarter and mark to market adjustments another \$589mn. This led to a \$23mn increase in total fuel expense, which averaged \$2.93/USG for.

Delta passenger traffic increased by 3.6pc on a 5pc increase in capacity compared to the same quarter of 2014. Winter storms last year trimmed quarterly capacity by 2pc, the company said.

Delta reported a \$746mn profit for the quarter, up from \$213mn in the same quarter of last year.