A report published by JP Morgan titled “Delta Air Lines Inc. Contract Analysis V1.0” containing research by North American Equity Research, as well a more recent article published by “One Mile at a Time” suggests that Delta Air Lines may have gained a significant competitive advantage over rivals because they can more easily afford it. The report suggests that due to American Airlines' current debt situation and Delta's much higher revenue per air seat mile, Delta stands at an apparent advantage. The analysis further highlights that Delta's pre-pandemic net profit from 2016-2019 was $16 billion. In the same time period, American's was $7 Billion. Delta's impressive new pilot CBA represents a total of $7.2 billion in incremental compensation over a similar period of 4 years. It is expected that Delta's rivals will need to match Delta's CBA to remain competitive in pilot recruitment. Delta, American, and United are each expected to hire approximately 2,000+ pilots each this year. In being able to raise pilot compensation by such a significant margin, Delta appears to have established a competitive advantage.
