On Tuesday, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian announced that all eligible employees will receive a 6% raise effective April 2017.
Including the 18.5% raise Delta employees received in 2015, the airline's employees have seen their base pay increase nearly 25% over two years.
In addition, Delta will boost automatic 401K matching to 3% while continuing dollar-per-dollar matching on the first 6% of an employee's income.
In a memo to the airline's 80,000 employees obtained by Business Insider, Bastian wrote:
"Thank you for the outstanding operational and financial results you continue to deliver for Delta. This performance, driven by the exceptional service you provide our customers each day, continues to set our airline apart from our competitors and strengthen our brand.... We are delighted to be able to continue to share the rewards of your hard work with you. It’s well deserved."
Earlier this year, eligible Delta employees received a portion of the company's $1.5 billion profit sharing scheme which equates to roughly 21% of their annual compensation. According to Delta, the airline has paid out a total of $4.1 billion in profit-sharing and other performance rewards over the past five years.
Even though the US airline industry has seen business slow due to economic softness, political instability, and currency fluctuations, Delta has remained surprisingly resilient. Even though the Atlanta-based airline's third quarter profit fell 4%, it's profits for the first nine months of the year is still up 6% over the same period last year to $3.75 billion.
Here's Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian's memo to employees.
AP
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