Delta Air Lines

Gross, taxable US employment income in USD; contract currency is USD so no FX conversion was applied. Excludes per diem, profit sharing, 401(k)/DC contributions, premium and override pay, and all other add-pay. No housing, schooling or transport allowances exist at these carriers, unlike Gulf packages: this is a taxed gross figure, not a tax-free package. ANNUALISATION ASSUMPTION, stated because it is the main way these numbers go wrong: hourly rates x 900 credit hours per year (75 per bid period x 12). 900 is a convention, not a contractual guarantee. Delta's bid-period guarantee is variable from 72:00 to 80:00 based on Average Line Value (PWA s.8/s.10); United's UPA 23 reserve guarantee is 73 hours, rising to 77 in June, July, August and December, which annualises to 892 hours. Actual credit varies widely and senior pilots routinely fly above guarantee. RANGE: min is Delta's published year-1 widebody captain composite rate of $435.10/hr; max is United's year-12 A350/A330/777/787/767-400 rate of $483.74/hr. Delta's year-12 widebody rate is $474.20/hr and United's year-1 is $443.85/hr, so the two scales genuinely overlap across their whole length, which is why one row covers both. The year-1 floor is the published scale minimum, not a typical earner: few pilots hold a widebody captain seat at year-1 longevity. Delta source is the ALPA-hosted PWA text (CDN filename is a legacy 'Contract 2019 TA' label; the document header reads 'January 2023 Delta Pilot Working Agreement' and its own table of contents states PWA 03-02-2023 through 12-31-2026). Delta's PWA becomes amendable 31 December 2026 and Section 6 talks are open, so these rates have a known short shelf life.

Gross, taxable US employment income in USD; contract currency USD, no FX conversion. Excludes per diem, profit sharing, 401(k), premium and override pay. No housing, schooling or transport allowances: a taxed gross figure, not a tax-free Gulf-style package. ANNUALISATION ASSUMPTION: hourly rate x 900 credit hours per year (75 per bid period x 12); this is a convention, not a guarantee. Delta's bid-period guarantee is variable 72:00-80:00; United's reserve guarantee is 73 hours (77 in Jun/Jul/Aug/Dec). RANGE: min is Delta's year-1 A-320/319 and B-737-800/700 composite rate of $349.43/hr; max is United's year-12 A321neo/A321XLR rate of $404.92/hr. For comparison within the band, Delta year-12 A-321N is $396.93/hr and A-320/319 is $380.61/hr; United year-1 737-800/A320 is $356.46/hr and year-12 A321/737-MAX10 is $390.30/hr. The two scales overlap across their length, which is why one row covers both carriers. Both carriers pay a fleet premium for the largest narrowbodies (A321neo/A321XLR at United, A-321N at Delta), so the top of this band is an A321-family rate, not a 737 rate. Delta A-220 and B-717 rates are lower and are deliberately excluded from this row.

Gross, taxable US employment income in USD; contract currency USD, no FX conversion. Excludes per diem, profit sharing, 401(k) and premium pay. No housing, schooling or transport allowances. ANNUALISATION ASSUMPTION: hourly rate x 900 credit hours per year (75 per bid period x 12), a convention rather than a contractual guarantee; Delta's guarantee is variable 72:00-80:00 per bid period and United's reserve guarantee is 73 hours (77 in Jun/Jul/Aug/Dec). RANGE: min is the first-year first officer rate, which both carriers set flat across every fleet: Delta $123.04/hr, United $125.52/hr. Max is United's year-12 widebody (A350/A330/777/787/767-400) rate of $330.44/hr; Delta's year-12 widebody rate is $323.92/hr. IMPORTANT SUB-RANGE, so this row is not read as one flat band: a year-12 NARROWBODY first officer tops out materially lower, at $276.56/hr at United (A321neo/A321XLR) and $271.11/hr at Delta (A-321N), roughly $244,000 to $249,000 on the same 900-hour assumption. Both scales also step very steeply between year 1 and year 3 (Delta A-350 FO goes $123.04 to $234.69 to $274.63), so a mid-band figure is not a mid-seniority figure.

Gross, taxable US employment income in USD; contract currency USD, no FX conversion. Excludes per diem, profit sharing and 401(k). No housing, schooling or transport allowances. Delta does not publish a standalone instructor salary. PWA Section 10 B. 13. a. pays a Captain SLI at the applicable composite hourly rate of the highest-paying position their seniority can hold, and Section 10 B. 13. d. 1) gives a 90:06 hour pay guarantee per bid period while assigned to the Training Department, which the PWA states 'equates to 17 duty periods'. ANNUALISATION: 90:06 x 12 bid periods = 1,081.2 credit hours, applied to the 1 January 2026 captain composite rates. NOT COMPARABLE WITH THE LINE PILOT ROWS ON THIS PAGE, and this is the single most important caveat: those rows use a 900-hour convention, this one uses 1,081.2, so the headline figure is about 20 percent higher for the same hourly rate. An SLI does not out-earn a line captain by that margin. The 90:06 guarantee is a floor, line captains routinely credit above 900, and the guarantee is pro-rated down for vacation and military leave days under the table at Section 10 B. 13. d. 1). RANGE: min uses the year-3 A-320/319 and B-737-800/700 captain rate of $354.93/hr; max uses the year-12 widebody (B-777/A-350/B-787/A-330/B-767-400ER) rate of $474.20/hr. The year-1 and year-2 captain steps are deliberately excluded: Delta hires no direct-entry captains, so no pilot at that longevity can hold the captain position the SLI rate is keyed to. Which rate a given SLI actually draws is seniority-dependent and unpublished, hence moderate confidence. Additive items excluded from the range, all from the same PWA: a 10 percent override on the composite rate when instructing on the highest-paying fleet (Section 10 B. 13. c., and it does not apply when flying), $1,000 per bid period as an APD, $500 per bid period as a PCP, $1,000 per month for a lead line check pilot (Section 10 D), and 5:18 pay per SLI duty period above 17. Instructor work at Delta is an increment on the line pilot scale, not a separate pay band.