Delta Air Lines said it saved a total of $5.1 billion on jet fuel last year due to falling oil prices, helping it post a profit of $4.5 billion in 2015.
Delta president Ed Bastian said it could save an additional $3 billion in fuel costs during 2016, with prices likely to continue tumbling.
Fuel has been airlines’ single biggest expense and the return of big oil producer Iran into the international fold could flood the market and send prices even lower.
Iran plans to raise production to about 600,000 barrels a day.
Despite the relief from cheap fuel prices, Delta’s fourth-quarter profit of $926 million was slightly below expectation, held back by foreign currency imbalance, and plans to scale back on some international routes in 2016.
"The success of our network actions and commercial initiatives in 2015 allowed us to grow our top line and our unit revenue premium to the industry, while overcoming nearly $700 million of revenue pressure from foreign currency," Bastian said.
"Looking ahead, the overall demand environment remains solid. The breadth of our network scale allows us to focus our commercial efforts on those areas of the business with the best opportunity such as the domestic marketplace, while reducing our exposure in some weaker international regions," he added.
