Ask most people what business Delta Air Lines is in, and they'll say the obvious thing: flying planes.
That answer is increasingly incomplete.
In 2024, Delta's co-branded credit card partnership with American Express generated roughly $7.4 billion in revenue.
That figure is larger than the airline's entire operating profit for the year, which came in at around $6 billion.
American Airlines pulled in $6.1 billion in cash from co-branded cards and other loyalty partners, a program anchored by Citi, with Barclays and others alongside it.
