Delta’s Credit-Card Customers Are Still Hungry for Airline Miles

(Bloomberg) -- Even with the pandemic hindering travel for much of the year, Delta Air Lines Inc.’s credit-card customers are still eager to earn airline miles. 

Spending with the co-branded card has been “very close” to what it should have been during the pandemic, even as overall travel on Delta’s planes plummeted, Chief Executive Officer Ed Bastian said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. In November, for instance, spending on the card was 22% higher than it was in the same period before the pandemic. 

“Customers are investing in our brand even if they’re not ready to travel, because they’re getting ready to travel,” Bastian said.  

Still, Delta now believes annual revenue from the co-branded card, which it has through a partnership with American Express Co., won’t reach $7 billion until 2024, one year later than originally planned, Delta President Glen Hauenstein told investors earlier Thursday. 

In 2019, AmEx and Delta signed an extension of their decades-long partnership that runs through 2029. The two companies now have plans to beef up usage of the card, AmEx CEO Steve Squeri said in the same Bloomberg Television interview. 

“We’ve got a long-term relationship -- our deal runs all the way out probably beyond our tenures, which is great,” Squeri said. “We look at the medium to long term. How do we integrate this into the e-commerce path? How do we put more value on it? How do we go after more small businesses? I think that’s going to be really important to growing this portfolio.” 

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