CHICAGO, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines ( DAL ) on

Thursday said the current quarter is shaping up to be one of the

most profitable fourth quarters in its history, thanks to

improved pricing power as well as strong holiday travel

bookings.

The Atlanta-based carrier, however, said the upcoming U.S.

presidential election was expected to temporarily slow travel

spending, hurting its revenue.

Delta forecast an adjusted profit of $1.60 to $1.85 per

share in the quarter through December, compared with analysts

expectations of $1.71 per share, according to LSEG data.

"With an improving industry backdrop and strong demand for

travel on Delta, we are positioned to finish the year strong,"

CEO Ed Bastian said.

Delta said the measures taken by U.S. airlines to moderate

capacity improved its pricing power across all geographies in

the third quarter. It expects the trend to continue in the

December quarter.

An excess supply of airline seats in the domestic market

during the summer travel season had forced carriers to discount

fares to fill their planes, hurting their earnings.

U.S. airlines have moderated capacity since then. Annual

domestic seat growth has slowed to 1.5% in October and November

from 5.5% in July, according to analysts at BofA.

Capacity adjustments as well as a 25% year-on-year decline

in jet fuel prices in North America have bolstered the

industry's earnings outlook, driving up airline shares.

The NYSE Arca Airline index is up 25% since early

August, outpacing an 8% jump in the S&P 500 index.

Delta's shares have also gained 34%.

The U.S. carrier expects the Nov. 5 presidential election to

shave 1 percentage point from its unit revenue in the December

quarter. Its overall revenue is estimated to be up 2% to 4% in

the quarter from a year ago on the back of a 3% to 4% increase

in capacity.

Delta reported an adjusted profit of $1.50 per share in the

September quarter, lower than the $1.52 estimated by analysts.

Its earnings in the third quarter suffered due to mass flight

cancellations following a global cyber outage.

A software update in July by global cybersecurity firm

CrowdStrike ( CRWD ) triggered system problems for Microsoft ( MSFT )

customers, including many airlines. The disruptions

persisted at Delta even as they subsided the next day at other

major U.S. airlines.

Delta canceled about 7,000 flights over five days,

disrupting the travel plans of 1.3 million customers. On

Thursday, the company said the disruptions led to a 45 cents per

share hit to its third-quarter earnings.

(Reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh

Editing by Chris Reese

)