Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and United Airlines are America’s three largest carriers. These legacy operators connect destinations worldwide, operating networks that cater to the needs of high-demand business travelers. As a result, they have extremely diverse revenue-generating profiles, with multiple major passenger segments contributing to their overall revenue growth. Loyalty programs, ancillary fees, partnerships, and other elements are all increasingly crucial components of how airlines generate revenue, and the three major legacy carriers are undoubtedly leading the way. Nonetheless, revenue generation is an accounting statistic, and as a result, there must be one carrier that comes out on top in this facet.
These carriers have gone head-to-head for decades, and they are the three survivors of a full-service airline industry that has increasingly consolidated. Macroeconomic shocks and other unique aviation events (such as the post-9/11 decline in air travel) have led airlines to leave the market via bankruptcy or liquidation, but Delta, United, and American all continue to survive. Let’s analyze the revenue pictures of Delta, United, and American to determine where and how they differ.
Which Of The Three Legacy Carriers Generates The Most Revenue?
The industry has an undeniable leader in terms of revenue generation. Delta has consistently ranked as the world’s largest carrier by revenue growth, with the airline reporting $61.6 billion in operating revenue for the full year 2024, making it the largest of the Big Three airlines by a significant margin. United Airlines reported $57.1 billion in operating revenue last year, placing it in second position within the industry. American Airlines subsequently recorded $54.2 billion, placing it third.
There are a few reasons for this spread. Delta’s revenue generation mix skews heavily towards high-yield premium cabins and non-lucrative ticket streams, such as the airline’s partnership with American Express. United Airlines offers long-haul network breadth and impressive international capacity recovery, propelling its revenue growth picture to second place overall.
American remains a large, capacity-oriented carrier, but it lags behind its competitors in terms of international network depth and loyalty program economics. Each airline reports operating revenue similarly, meaning that the figures above can represent a fairly accurate apples-to-apples comparison.
Based on the latest annual results, Delta’s revenue generation picture is undoubtedly the strongest, despite the carrier actually trailing both United and American on a few key categories. Some industry analysts are convinced that this hierarchy could shift in the coming years, with American and United both undertaking ambitious growth projects. However, it’s unlikely that this will change within the current reporting year.
What Defines Delta’s Revenue-Generation Picture?
Top-line figures for Delta Air Lines remain broad-based and resilient, with second-quarter operating revenue sitting essentially flat year-over-year. The principal revenue-generating engine is passenger revenue, which accounts for around $13.9 billion, and is supported by three key pillars. The airline has a strong premium mix that continues to grow year-over-year as customers opt for premium options. Loyalty travel growth continues to increase, as more passengers redeem SkyMiles for award travel.
Steady travel-related services, specifically related to checked bags and other fees, are another major source of revenue growth. The airline’s geographic footprint tends to skew on the domestic side, with around $9.3 billion each year coming from the airline’s strong presence in transatlantic and transpacific long-haul markets. The airline’s presence in other long-haul markets (such as South America) remains mostly unchanged.
Non-ticket revenue streams, specifically the nearly $1 billion that comes from loyalty partnerships and brand economics, are also key pieces of how the company makes money. Over the past few months, Delta has seen capacity rise seasonally, albeit with a lower year-on-year revenue footprint as weakness in main cabin bookings has offset most of the carrier’s strong premium growth. This has lowered margins, especially in the back of the aircraft.
Analyzing United’s Revenue Generation Framework
United Airlines’ revenue generation picture is also broad-based and internationally oriented, with operating revenues for the second quarter up roughly 1.7% to $15.24 billion. Passenger revenue figures rose 1.1% on capacity growth of around 6%, with more than 4% additional passenger traffic. Some offsets included softer yields (down 3.2% year-over-year) and lower passenger revenue per available seat mile (down 4.5% year-over-year).
Geographically, the carrier generates domestic revenues of around $8.78 billion per year, a figure that has fallen modestly in recent years. The airline’s higher mileage revenue from non-airline partners (which climbed nearly 9% to $970 million) demonstrates the continued growth of the airline’s loyalty network. The table below provides additional figures for the carrier’s revenue generation in key international markets, based on data from United’s latest quarterly filings.
The airline’s loyalty program remains a core monetization engine, with United Airlines recognizing approximately $0.8 billion in revenue this quarter from partnership agreements. Frequent-flyer deferred revenue also landed at more than $7.6 billion, demonstrating impressive continued growth. Advanced ticket sales total approximately $9.6 billion, indicating strong forward demand.
How Does American Airlines’ Picture Compare?
The second-quarter American Airlines revenue picture remains stable, with some modest directional shifts. The airline’s overall operating revenue was up around 0.4% year-on-year, despite a challenging operating environment driven mostly by macroeconomic turmoil. Passenger revenue was slightly down year-on-year, but cargo revenues grew by more than 8% and loyalty-related revenues also jumped around 13%.
Geographically, the airline’s revenue growth is primarily driven by domestic markets, which accounted for $9.16 billion. Atlantic revenues were around $2 billion, and Latin American revenues accounted for roughly $1.55 billion, reflecting AA’s relatively strong position in the latter market. Continued forward demand remains a major component of American’s revenue picture, with the airline currently having a liability of around $8 billion for tickets already sold for future travel, which is currently on its books.
In terms of the airline’s financial mix, American Airlines offers strong co-branded economics, which enable non-ticket streams to offset softer main-cabin pricing. Across the board, the airline is in good shape, and its demand structure is mostly resilient. Steady demand in Latin America remains a key asset for the carrier, with travel demand to the city expected to continue growing over time. However, the airline still faces significant competitive pressures in key markets, such as the domestic US and the Pacific.
Where Are The Key Points Of Differentiation Between The Three Operators?
Delta Air Lines is currently the market’s leader in terms of premium mix and diversified non-ticket economics. The airline’s outsized cobranded card deal with American Express and high penetration of premium markets make it a powerful player in the industry. The carrier’s rapidly growing third-party MRO presence remains robust, and it has continued to maintain high and rapidly expanding profit margins.
United Airlines primarily focuses on international operations, leveraging its extensive long-haul network across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, with its Polaris business class serving as a key revenue driver. The airline emphasizes dense hub connectivity, and sales of miles to MileagePlus partners are also a key driver of continued revenue growth.
American’s growth picture is primarily centered on the airline’s large domestic-oriented network, with a large number of narrowbody aircraft accounting for its continued revenue generation. The airline operates fewer business-oriented hubs, and it prioritizes traffic flow with scale in the domestic US.
The Bottom Line
At the end of the day, American, Delta, and United dominate the market due to the scale of their networks and the amount of premium traffic that they can capture. Those traveling for business demand comfortable travel environments, with lie-flat seating being a minimum requirement. Airlines such as Delta, American, and United have continued to expand their premium product offerings to attract these specific types of customers.
This has been a principal reason that these kinds of airlines have been able to dominate the market, although now all of them are made equal. Delta Air Lines serves a unique role as the market’s undeniable premium leader. With a large mix of premium traffic, the airline generates more revenue than any other operator globally.
United Airlines is playing catch-up, aiming to narrow the revenue and margin gap with Delta Air Lines as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, American Airlines is the third spoke in this system, and it is simply seeking to maintain its financial stability. The challenge, however, is not necessarily which airline will continue to generate the most revenue, but rather how operators will capitalize on the existing assets within their fleet to generate the most profit from the revenue they generate. Airlines can’t really control demand. They can try to shift passenger demand on the margins, but it is mostly the cost angle that they can control. At the end of the day, operators that find the most diligent ways to manage their cost bases will ultimately be the most successful.