Delta people earn over $500M in profit sharing

Delta announced Friday that its 90,000 employees would again be honored and rewarded this Valentine’s Day with meaningful profit sharing — over $500 million — for the first time since 2019. Those payments will hit employees’ bank accounts on Feb. 14, also known as Employee Appreciation Day, and celebrate the outstanding accomplishments made possible by Delta people worldwide.

“Delta people rose to the challenges of 2022, delivering industry-leading operational reliability and financial performance, and I’m looking forward to recognizing their achievements,” Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in the company’s earnings report Friday.

Since 2007, Delta has rewarded employees with industry-leading profit-sharing payments: more than $9.2 billion since 2010 (including nearly $6 billion in the five years leading up to the pandemic). Delta’s 2019 employee profit-sharing payout was $1.6 billion equaling 16.6% of our employees’ earnings – or nearly two months of additional pay for each employee.

Delta funds the annual profit-sharing pool with 10% of the first $2.5 billion of profits and 20% of profits in excess of $2.5 billion. The pool amount is then divided by the total earnings of all eligible employees. The result is the percentage of earnings Delta will pay out in profit sharing to each eligible employee.

While employees can opt to receive the profit-sharing payment in cash, they also have the option to use a portion of their profit-sharing payment to fund their 401(k). Delta matches 100% up to 6% of any profit sharing that an employee contributes and contributes an automatic 3% of profit sharing to their 401(k) account. Employees also have the option this year to contribute to the Spirit of Delta Campaign benefiting the Delta Care and Scholarship Fund.

Delta’s industry-leading profit-sharing program is just one of the many ways we act on our commitment to sharing our success with our employees.

Delta people earned a total of $61 million in our Shared Rewards program, tied to achieving internal operational goals. Delta kept that program intact throughout the pandemic while other airlines suspended theirs, allowing us to grant our employees an extra $1,575 between April 2020 and December 2021.

In 2021, we did not have a full-year profit but did report a profit for the year’s second half. Consistent with our philosophy of sharing our success, Delta issued a special profit-sharing payment of approximately $100 million. Each employee received a flat amount of $1,250 (if hired before Jul. 1, 2021) or $625 (if hired on or after Jul. 1, 2021).