Delta Air Lines Inc. says it swung to a hefty loss in the second quarter despite a strong increase in sales.

The results excluding one-time items still beat Wall Street estimates.

The Atlanta-based company also said Wednesday that it expects to achieve $2 billion in cost savings by 2012 from its acquisition of Northwest Airlines Corp.

For the three months ending June 30, Delta says it lost $1.04 billion, or $2.64 a share, compared to a profit of $1.59 billion a year ago when Delta emerged from bankruptcy protection.

Excluding one-time items, Delta says it earned 35 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expect a profit of 10 cents a share without items.

Delta says revenue rose 10 percent to $5.50 billion.