Delta to raise employee pay for fifth year in a row

Delta has announced plans to provide a four percent pay raise to eligible employees worldwide – a significant investment as the airline continues to navigate industry pressures.

Following a $1.3 billion profit-sharing bonus to employees worldwide this year, Delta is once again investing in our people with a four percent pay raise.

This is the fifth consecutive pay raise in the last five years and represents an additional $500 million annual investment in employees.

In an internal memo to employees, CEO Ed Bastian said despite industry pressures, “Caring for our people is the heart of Delta’s culture. This core value guides our approach to making consistent and meaningful investments in you and your colleagues.”

Bastian thanked employees for navigating industry challenges like volatile fuel costs and TSA staffing challenges with a focus on safety, reliability and delivering the world-class service our customers expect.

With this increase, Delta continues to lead the industry in providing the highest total compensation for frontline employees for stand-out performance. In the last five years, we’ve made an average investment of 30 percent in compensation in each of our largest frontline workgroups, including this increase.

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.