Delta Air Lines stock lost 4.5% on October 9 after all American carriers suddenly halted or reined in flights to Israel following an escalated violence breakout between the country's military forces and Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. Suspended services were announced "until conditions allow them to resume". Companies including Delta, United Airlines, American Airlines etc are clearly losing money on cancelled flights, yet it has only a temporary and very limited effect on their worldwide businesses. So, stock prices of Delta bounced by more than 1.5% as soon as on the next trading day. The stock even recovered by nearly 3% at some moment.

Delta Air Lines is set to report during the week, as earnings number release is scheduled on October 12, before the opening bell on Wall Street. Recent attempts to diversify the company's revenue sources to boost long-term growth deserve investors' attention, while geopolitical and other forms of uncertainty represent only short-term risks for the travel industry. The crowd and experts may be even ready to forgive some temporary losses, for the sake of the longer-term expansion, which is clearly more promising. Only a set of some new and now hypothetical pandemic shutdowns may have the ability to potentially delay the rise of aviation segment stocks for a long time. Such a possibility cannot be ruled out in the future, but there are no threats of that sort right now at least.

With the stock's price soaring high in late spring and in the first half of summer, from below $33 to nearly $50 per share, it had been adjusted to its pre-rally level during general market correction. This allows to hope for a launch of a recovery process ahead of the next summer season in 2024.

As to the earnings report, it is worth noting that Delta Air Lines beat consensus estimates in its Q2 report three months ago, with an 11.6% beat on EPS, which was $2.68. The consensus is $1.97 per share for Q3, so that any better numbers for the July-September period may give a positive impulse for the bull's camp. Delta Air Lines faced an improving trend in the recent months, while only the 30% decline in free cash flow compared to 2022 could be considered as a major obstacle for a positive perception of the big picture.