Delta has sufficient cash to carry out this program. The company exited the first quarter of fiscal 2013 with $3.64 billion in cash and short-term investments and $457 million in free cash flow. After Southwest Corporation ( LUV ), which pays a quarterly dividend of a penny, Delta will be second among the big airline companies in the U.S. to pay a dividend. Beside these two company's other major airlines like United Continental Holdings Inc. ( UAL ) and JetBlue Airways Corporation. ( JBLU ), do not pay dividends. Delta has made several investments to improve operating efficiencies and customer experience, which aided the company to re-initiate shareholders' return. Further, the Atlanta-based company has also considerably reduced its debt in the last 5 years, which reflects its balance sheet strength. Recently, Delta reported better-than-expected first-quarter 2013 financial results, where the bottomline beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 3 cents.