In 1996, the identical yr Delta Air Strains transported the Olympic flame from Athens, Greece, to Los Angeles, the Olympic Video games have been held in its hometown of Atlanta. That very same yr, the service launched a partnership with American Categorical that will change the corporate’s trajectory: a co-branded bank card permitting Amex customers to redeem Delta SkyMiles.
Almost three many years later, the bank card—together with a raft of different perks—accounted for $8 billion, or about 10%, of Delta’s income in 2025. In response to Delta CEO Ed Bastian, the co-branded bank card’s spending nears 1% of the U.S. GDP yearly—a determine that displays the sheer quantity of transactions flowing by way of the partnership throughout tens of millions of cardholders.
“As Delta’s brand started to move and people started to see it as a premium brand, as a differentiated experience, Amex was critical to that because we see Amex as the premium credit card in the business,” Bastian informed Fortune’s Editor-in-Chief Alyson Shontell on the most recent episode of Fortune’s Titans and Disruptors of Trade podcast.
However the relationship wasn’t all the time so seamless.
From friction to friendship
For years, Delta and Amex struggled with a basic query: whose buyer was it?
“We would have difficulties with Amex because we could never figure out whose customer it was,” Bastian stated. “Amex thought it was their customer because they had the credit card. Delta thought it was our customer because we’re providing the experience.”
The strain got here to a head a few decade in the past, when Delta sat down with Amex CEO Steve Squeri to resolve the matter. Bastian recalled what Squeri—who he now considers an in depth buddy—informed him: “It’s our customers. And let’s stop fighting about who’s getting what size slice, and figure out, how do we make the pie bigger?”
That reframe modified the trajectory of the deal.
“Those are the most successful relationships,” Bastian stated. “It’s not when one brand is taking advantage of another or feeding off another. [It’s] when both brands legitimately raise up.”
A partnership cast in turbulence
The co-branded card’s significance to Delta got here into sharper focus throughout one of many airline’s darkest chapters. After a post-9/11 droop battered the service, Bastian—then the CFO—pushed the corporate to file for chapter in 2005. Delta emerged from Chapter 11 in 2007, and the next yr, Amex delivered a $1 billion enhance, marking the start of what would turn out to be one of the profitable partnerships within the aviation trade.
Now probably the most worthwhile airline within the U.S., Delta has leaned closely into premiumization, recognizing that concentrating on wealthier clients would yield extra income per seat. Flying was seen as a commodity, with 80% of Delta clients preferring whichever airline offered the most affordable or quickest expertise, Bastian stated. Rebranding as a customer-first firm that rewarded model loyalty helped remodel the corporate.
“If you ask people why they choose Delta, 80% would say because it’s Delta, because the experience the brand, the confidence I have in that company—‘That’s my airline,’” Bastian stated.
The cardboard pivot
Delta and Amex aren’t the one ones betting large on co-branded loyalty. American Airways reported $6.2 billion in money funds from co-brand and accomplice agreements with Citi in 2025, whereas Alaska Airways noticed 16% of its complete income stream from loyalty spending. United’s deepening relationship with Chase, and Capital One’s aggressive push into premium journey playing cards have additional raised the stakes.
Amex, for its half, has been increasing the perks ecosystem past journey. CEO Steve Squeri informed Fortune in September 2025 that the corporate is doubling down on “lifestyle” areas—wellness, procuring, wonderful eating—along with its core journey advantages. Current upgrades embody tripling the annual lodge credit score from $200 to $600 for stays booked by way of American Categorical Journey, plus early check-in, late check-out, and credit for meals or spa companies at greater than 3,100 accomplice inns.
“We have the largest array of any card company, and it keeps growing,” Squeri stated.
Right now, Delta is Amex’s largest card distributor. The Delta card accounts for 10% of Amex’s worldwide billings, and Delta cardholders characterize 30% of Amex’s U.S. shopper spend, in response to Bastian.
And the expansion isn’t slowing.
“Even though we’re the largest distribution outlet, we’re growing faster than any of the other distribution outlets they have at a double-digit clip still today,” Bastian stated. “That’s making the pie bigger.”
