After announcing a bold vision for the airline’s future at CES, Delta executives say their goal is to now grow the value of a SkyMiles membership, not necessarily further monetize it.
Delta Air Lines wants to convert more flyers to SkyMiles members through creating additional value in their program.
The announcement came during the airline’s 2024 fourth quarter earnings call on Friday, January 10, 2025.
Delta SkyMiles Membership Should Create “Even Greater Amount of Loyalty to Delta”
Earlier in the week, Delta chief executive Ed Bastian laid out a vision of the future at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, using AI and partnerships to make the passenger experience even more rewarding. The airline claims the work leading up to that announcement has worked, as the carrier ended the year with a free cash flow of $3.4 billion.
When asked about the future of SkyMIles and whether or not the airline plans to further monetize the program, Bastian told analysts their overarching goal was to create more value for the member through free wi-fi aboard flights and new partnerships with Uber and others.
“This is all about creating a much longer-term relationship and experience based platform for our customers,” said Bastian, as quoted by a Seeking Alpha transcript. “The monetization opportunities will unfold in due course. But the more valuable item in my mind is, how we’re growing the value of a SkyMiles membership and wanting our customers to continue to demonstrate an even greater amount of loyalty to Delta as part of that.”
Between their wi-fi benefit and new partnerships with Uber and YouTube, Bastian predicts that it will drive more sign-ups to the SkyMiles program and “give them more reason to be flying Delta.”
When it comes to their partnership with American Express, Delta president Glen Hauenstein announced they “delivered a record revenue of $57 billion,” an increase from the previous watermark set in 2023. He said the growth was delivered through “high single-digit growth in co-brand spend and over 1 million new card acquisitions.”
With even more demand coming for air travel, the Bastian told CNBC that he expects 2025 to be the “best financial year” for the airline. The carrier projects they will be able to achieve over $4 billion in free cash flow for the year.
Keep up with Delta Air Lines’ passenger experience changes on the FlyerTalk forums.
