Delta Air Lines reported a bigger-than-expected increase in third-quarter profit thanks to “surprise” demand growth, prompting a need to hire pilots, flight attendants, and airport workers more quickly, Chief Executive Ed Bastian told Reuters.

Delta’s pilots received record overtime this summer, in part because the airline added more flights to fill a supply gap left by the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX at rival carriers, Reuters reported. That contributed to higher expenses in the quarter, a trend Bastian said would continue this year and into 2020.

“The size of the demand surprised us,” Bastian said in a telephone interview.

Delta’s cost per available seat mile, excluding fuel costs, rose 2.4% in the third quarter due to higher employee wages, demand volume and weather incidents.

Shares in Delta slipped in trading.

Unlike its main US competitors, Delta does not own the 737 MAX, which has not flown since a worldwide grounding in March that is forcing more than 100 daily flight cancellations at Southwest Airlines and American Airlines.

As a result, Delta is increasing its flight capacity while growth at rivals that own the 737 MAX remains stuck. It is forecasting capacity growth of around 4.5 per cent in the fourth quarter.

“Given the high volume that we’ve experienced and the demand for the product, it’s created a need for additional resources across all of our work groups  and getting this staffing in sooner,” Bastian said.

Net income rose 13.1% to $1.5 billion in the quarter to Sept.30 on total adjusted revenue of $12.56 billion.

Adjusted earnings per share reached $2.32, beating analysts’ expectations for profit of $2.26 per share, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Analysts were forecasting revenue of $12.6 billion

Reuters