Delta Air Lines has today announced that employees will be getting a 4% pay increase as of June 1, 2026. Well, all non-union employees…
Delta increases employee pay for fifth year in a row
As of June 1, 2026, Delta is offering a 4% base pay increase for ground and flight attendant employees, at all steps of the pay scale. Delta is also introducing a total pool of 4% for merit increases, which will be allocated to eligible merit employees, in varying percentages, based on individual performance and market competitiveness.
Delta has pretty consistently offered its employees annual pay increases, and this will be the fifth consecutive annual pay increase. We saw a 4% pay increase in June 2025, a 5% pay increase in June 2024, a 5% pay increase in April 2023, and a 4% pay increase in May 2022.
This latest pay bump amounts to an investment of around $500 million. This arrangement includes all employees worldwide, other than those covered by an industry or government requirement, or a collective bargaining agreement. For example, pilots are the biggest group at Delta that are unionized, and they ratified a lucrative contract in March 2023, with massive pay raises.
Delta also does more profit sharing than any other US airline, and back in February 2026, Delta paid $1.3 billion in bonuses. That amounts to about 8.9% per eligible employee (and this includes union employees too), which is more than the profit sharing pool of all competitors combined.
In a memo to employees, Delta CEO Ed Bastian shared the following:
How Delta people show up every day is what strengthens customer loyalty and drives our revenue premium. This fuels investments in you like annual pay raises, unrivaled profit sharing and other meaningful actions. That’s why, even in an uncertain cost environment, we’re committed to investing in you with a base pay increase effective June 1.
This raise is possible thanks to your solid performance and Delta’s strong foundation. It represents an additional $500 million annual investment in Delta people, on top of regular pay step increases for many of our frontline teams. This year, we expect to invest $18 billion into our people.
With this increase and the world’s best profit sharing program, we continue leading our global peers, American and United, in total compensation. In the last five years, we’ve made an average investment of 30% in compensation in each of our largest frontline workgroups, including this increase.
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. As we invest in you, let’s continue working together to run an operation that can’t be beat and deliver the premium service our customers choose Delta for every day.
Delta does a good job keeping employees non-unionized
Delta is unique among US airlines when it comes unionization. Delta has the fewest unionized workgroups of any major US airline. While there have been efforts for many years to get more groups to unionize, in the end a majority always voted against it (at least until now).
Delta does a good job finding a balance, by treating employees well, aligning them with the company’s mission, incentivizing them with big profit sharing, and providing plenty of proactive pay raises. Ultimately unions at other airlines don’t have a lot to show when it comes to pay negotiation compared to Delta.
As long as a majority of non-unionized Delta employees continue to be happy with that arrangement, I think Delta should be commended for being able to maintain such good relations. These kinds of pay raises, along with initiatives like being the first airline in the US to start paying flight attendants during boarding, go a long way to earning the trust of employees.
To be balanced, though, even unionized employees generally receive annual pay increases as part of their contracts, assuming they’re not amendable. So Delta is really trying to keep up with the industry here, and maybe do a little bit better.
Bottom line
Delta employees are getting a pay raise of 4% as of June 2026. This follows a 4% pay increase in 2025, a 5% pay increase in 2024, a 5% pay increase in 2023, and a 4% pay increase in 2022, plus 8.9% profit sharing for the past year. Congrats to Delta employees on their upcoming pay bumps!
What do you make of Delta’s pay raise for non-union employees?
