Delta Air Lines (DAL) FY2025 results: revenue $63.4 billion, up 2.8% on the year

Delta is a global airline based in the United States. It served over 200 million customers in 2025, its centennial year, and employs more than 100,000 people. At the end of 2025 it offered up to 5,500 flights on a peak day to more than 300 destinations on six continents, flying a fleet of 1,314 aircraft; with its alliance partners it reaches over 150 countries and territories and nearly 1,000 destinations. Alongside flying, the company runs a loyalty programme, an engine and airframe maintenance business, a cargo operation, a holiday business and an oil refinery.

The network

The company concentrated on adding flights at its core hubs during 2025 while making its coastal hubs more efficient, using those coastal gateways and its airline partners to extend international service. It holds hubs in, or a market presence in, Amsterdam, Bogota, Lima, London-Heathrow, Mexico City, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Santiago, São Paulo, Seoul-Incheon and Tokyo. The named alliance partners are Aeroméxico, Air France-KLM, China Eastern, LATAM Airlines Group, Korean Air, Virgin Atlantic and WestJet. The most substantial of these arrangements are commercial joint ventures or cooperation agreements covering joint sales and marketing, shared airport facilities and other commercial cooperation, and in some cases the company has taken equity stakes to deepen them.

The fleet and the regional carriers

The fleet varies in size and capability so aircraft can be matched to routes. The company is buying new, more fuel-efficient aircraft with more premium seats and cargo capacity to replace retiring ones, refitting existing cabins to add premium seating and harmonise interiors, and simplifying the fleet by replacing retirements with next-generation aircraft. Regional flying is done under the Delta Connection banner by carriers operating aircraft using the company's DL designator code: Endeavor Air, a wholly owned subsidiary, Republic Airways and SkyWest Airlines. Those contracts are primarily capacity purchase arrangements.

SkyMiles and American Express

Miles can be redeemed for flights and upgrades on Delta, its regional carriers and other participating airlines, and for charitable donations among other things. In 2025 programme members redeemed miles for approximately 35 million award tickets. The most valuable contract to sell miles is the co-brand credit card relationship with American Express, which paid $8.2 billion in 2025; the company says it expects that to grow to $10 billion over the next few years.

The businesses beyond flying

Premium products, Delta One, First Class, Delta Premium Select and Delta Comfort+, are a named focus, and the filing states that premium yield growth has outpaced the main cabin. The maintenance, repair and overhaul operation holds contractual agreements with jet engine manufacturers covering both legacy and next-generation engines, and also does airframe and other maintenance work. Cargo operations and Delta Vacations sit alongside them. Monroe, the company's refinery subsidiary, runs the Trainer refinery, which is subject to environmental law and to the Renewable Fuel Standard; because Monroe can blend only a small amount of renewable fuel itself, it has to buy most of its Renewable Identification Numbers on the secondary market, where prices have been volatile.

People and pay

Approximately 20 percent of full-time equivalent employees were represented by unions at the end of 2025, and approximately 200 refinery employees at Monroe are represented by the United Steel Workers under an agreement expiring on 28 February 2026, governed by the National Labor Relations Act, which generally lets either side resort to self-help once an agreement expires. Some employees outside the United States are represented by unions, work councils or local groups. Profit sharing paid $1.3 billion to employees in February 2026 for 2025, and the Shared Rewards programme, which pays for operational performance, paid $67 million during 2025.

Regulation

Flight operations are authorised by certificates of public convenience and necessity and by exemptions and limited-entry frequency awards from the Department of Transportation. International flying depends on bilateral agreements between the United States and the countries served, and on a multilateral agreement with the European Union, so changes in aviation policy can alter or end those agreements and affect the value of route authorities. The United States has negotiated Open Skies agreements with many countries, which allow unrestricted access between those markets.

From Delta's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025. The filing

Written from the 10-K filed 11 February 2026: read the full 10-K.