Delta, the K-shaped airline

For the first time, Delta Air Lines is making more money from its first-class and Comfort+ passengers than its main cabin passengers. Helping premium to grow comfortably as the main cabin experiences turbulence is Delta’s co-branded American Express credit card, which brought in $8.4 billion last year

In the fourth quarter, Delta’s premium ticket revenue grew 9% to $5.7 billion, while its main cabin sales fell 7% to $5.62 billion. That happened a few quarters earlier than even Delta expected — back in October, CEO Ed Bastian said it could occur a few times in fiscal 2026.

“If you look at the economy, if you look, you look at strength of the market and at how... high-end consumers are feeling about their opportunities, they’re quite bullish,” Bastian said on Tuesday’s earnings call.

Cardholders receive points on purchases and can board their flights earlier — and benefits increase with higher, i.e. premium, spending. Those cardholders, Bastian says, are “among [Delta’s] most valuable and satisfied customers, traveling more often and spending more on Delta.”

While notable, the outcome has been inevitable for a while. Premium ticket growth has outpaced main growth every quarter for at least three years at Delta, as travel has become a core pillar of America’s “K-shaped economy,” in which affluent consumers do well and those on the lower end of the income spectrum cut back.

The Takeaway

Delta is leaning into the K, relying on wealthier travelers to bolster its profits — and the margin spreads have never been greater. According to Delta President Glen Hauenstein on Tuesday’s earnings call, 2026 will see all of the airline’s new seat growth (it plans to boost capacity by 3%) concentrated in premium cabins. “The bottom end of the industry and the commodity side of the business has been struggling greatly,” Hauenstein said. “That sector has been unable to grow here for the last several years.”

RIP the metaverse

Meta is laying off more than 1,000 people in its Reality Labs division — the latest in a series of nails in the coffin for the company’s virtual reality and metaverse ambitions as it pivots to AI.

Considering the company changed its name from Facebook to Meta in 2021 to reflect its new goals, we decided to look back at what exactly the company and its CEO were going for way back when… and what’s happened since.