Defined Benefit (Pension) · DOL Form 5500 · 2023

Delta Air Lines, Inc. Pension Plan

Data updated 2026-08-25

$7.3B
Total assets Very large vs avg
15,601
Participants Very large workforce
100th
Percentile by assets National rank
$468,553
Avg per participant High balance/head
PlainRetire home → About this data RSS: change history

Official DOL plan name: Delta Retirement Plan · Sponsored by Delta Air Lines, Inc. · Georgia · Transportation & Warehousing

$7.3B in assets, 15,601 participants

Delta Air Lines, Inc.'s Delta Retirement Plan reported $7.3B in total assets and 15,601 participants in its 2023 DOL Form 5500 filing, ranking in the 100th percentile by assets among filed plans. Figures are as reported by the plan sponsor to the Department of Labor, not audited or endorsed by PlainRetire.

  • #3,345 in Transportation & Warehousing (3,362 peers)

Coverage in Georgia

Delta Retirement Plan covers 15,601 participants in Georgia, 14x the typical Georgia plan (state average ~1,096 per filing). Assets: $7.3B.

#3,345
in Transportation & Warehousing (3,362 peers)
-0.6%
assets change YoY
73×
vs typical plan assets (national mean)

The plan reported a net loss of $45M for the year, a single-year figure driven by markets and benefit payments, not a measure of plan health.

Delta Retirement Plan's outsized position by total assets

Delta Retirement Plan vs every filed plan by assets

End-of-year total assets · plan year 2023 · DOL Form 5500

$7,309,889,555 Highest reported value at or above every one of 127,068 filed plans

This plan $0 $2,050,000,000 every filed plan with reported assets, bucketed by value

Dashed line + filled bar = this entry, among filed plans.

Source U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA) · plan year 2023

Delta Retirement Plan's mega-plan peer group by participant headcount

Plan-year 2023 Form 5500 filings with a reported participant count, partitioned by headcount band, not by assets. Delta Retirement Plan is a mega filing (15,601 participants), the rightmost band on the breakdown.

What changed between DOL Form 5500 filings

plan year 2022 → plan year 2023

  • Delta Retirement Plan reported net income rose from -$1.2B in the plan year 2022 filing to -$45M in the plan year 2023 filing.
  • Delta Retirement Plan reported participants fell from 15,951 in the plan year 2022 filing to 15,601 in the plan year 2023 filing.
  • Delta Retirement Plan end-of-year assets fell from $7.4B in the plan year 2022 filing to $7.3B in the plan year 2023 filing.

See the national 2022→2023 release diff →

Plan-year Form 5500 strip

Filing strip 580218548 · Delta Air Lines, Inc. PY 2023 · Defined Benefit (Pension)

Delta Retirement Plan · $7.3B · 15,601 · 100th

  • ASSETS $7.3B
  • PCT 15,601
  • EIN 100th
  • RANK Defined Benefit (Pension)
  • PHOTO near Firstenergy Corp. Master Pension Plan
  • IND ind #3345

Stamps derive from this plan's Form 5500 line items (assets, participants, type, EIN, cohort placement) - not a quality rating of the sponsor. Read with Transportation & Warehousing retirement plans → · Plans in Georgia →

Delta Retirement Plan in the asset neighbourhood

Pepsico Employees Retirement Plan IPepsico Employees Retirement…$7.6BDominion Energy Pension Plan$7.6BDelta Retirement Plan$7.3BFirstenergy Corp. Master Pension PlanFirstenergy Corp. Master Pen…$7.1BUnited Association National Pension FundUnited Association National …$7.1B
End-of-year total assets ($B) among Delta Retirement Plan and nearest nationwide Defined Benefit (Pension) peers. Source: DOL Form 5500 plan year 2023.

Georgia filing particulars

Total Assets (Beginning of Year)$7.4B
Net Assets (End of Year)$7.3B
Net Income-$45M
Employer EIN580218548
Plan Effective Date1971-02-01
Filing StatusFILING RECEIVED

Sponsor Plan History (Delta Air Lines, Inc.)

Sponsor-wide plan assets over time

All Delta Air Lines, Inc. plans reported in each filing year

Latest sponsor-wide plan assets
$51.4B 27.83790401128044% vs 2022
2024 filing year
$35B$40B$45B$50B$55B 202220232024 $40.2B $51.4B ▲ +27.8%
Year Plans Participants Total Assets
2022 11 112,289 $40.2B
2023 12 136,516 $46.0B
2024 12 145,368 $51.4B

Nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) Plans in Georgia

Peer Defined Benefit (Pension) plans, same state, same plan type, ranked by total assets.

Delta Retirement Plan vs. nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Georgia, assets vs. participants Scatter plot of 6 data points. 050000100000150000200000250000 05101520 Total assets ($B) Participants Delta Retirement Plan, Total assets ($B): 7.309889555 · Participants: 15601Delta Retirement PlanThe Southern Company Pension Plan, Total assets ($B): 15.596954837 · Participants: 25241The Southern Company Pension PlanUPS/Ibt Full-Time Employee Pension Plan, Total assets ($B): 12.285105757 · Participants: 70241UPS/Ibt Full-Time Employee Pension PlanUPS Pension Plan, Total assets ($B): 9.733665646 · Participants: 153217UPS Pension PlanCox Enterprises, Inc. Pension Plan, Total assets ($B): 7.396009274 · Participants: 24023Cox Enterprises, Inc. Pension PlanUfcw Consolidated Pension Fund, Total assets ($B): 5.460667911 · Participants: 191597Ufcw Consolidated Pension Fund
Delta Retirement Plan vs. nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Georgia, assets vs. participants
Compare Delta Retirement Plan side-by-side with 3 peers →

Scale composition for Delta Retirement Plan

Delta Retirement Plan reports $7.3B in end-of-year assets across 15,601 participants (0.059% of the $12.3T held by all Form 5500 filers in the national rollup , and 0.017% of 93,925,755 covered participants) - about $468,553 per participant (3.4x the national average assets-per-participant) . Net income for plan year 2023 was -$45M.

This plan identity (EIN 580218548, plan #002) has 3 Form 5500 filings on file from 2022 to 2024 , with end-of-year assets moving from $7.4B to $7.3B (-1.4%) while covered participants moved from 15,951 to 15,222 . Single-year sparse filers cannot show that trail.

Plan year Participants EOY assets Filing
2022 15,951 $7.4B Open filing
2023 15,601 $7.3B This page
2024 · index core 15,222 $7.3B Open filing

The same sponsor also keeps 4 other index-core plans on PlainRetire:

Delta Retirement Plan's out-of-state Defined Benefit (Pension) peers by assets and headcount

Outside Georgia, the nearest Defined Benefit (Pension) by assets is Firstenergy Corp. Master Pension Plan in OH ($7.1B); by covered participants it is American Electric Power System Retirement Plan in OH (15,595 participants). Same-state nearby plans are listed separately above.

Closest by plan assets

Nearest other-state filings by tot_assets_eoy ($7.3B here).

Similar participant headcount

Nearest other-state filings by covered participants (15,601 participants); asset peers above are excluded.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2023. Asset totals can differ widely at the same headcount; neither axis is a quality rating.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Delta Retirement Plan assets move in 2023? ▼
Delta Retirement Plan held essentially flat - down 0.6% during 2023, from $7.4B to $7.3B. Reported net income was -$45M.
How have Delta Air Lines, Inc. plan assets changed over time? ▼
Across 3 plan years on file (2022-2024), Delta Air Lines, Inc.'s sponsor-wide assets grew 27.8%, from $40.2B to $51.4B.
Where does Delta Retirement Plan rank by assets among Form 5500 filers? ▼
Delta Retirement Plan ranks in the 100th percentile by end-of-year assets among 127,072 plans that reported assets for plan year 2023 (among the largest 1% of all filed plans).
Which Defined Benefit (Pension) plans are similar in size to Delta Retirement Plan? ▼
Among Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in other states, the closest by assets is Firstenergy Corp. Master Pension Plan in OH ($7.1B, 12,304 participants).
Which Defined Benefit (Pension) plans cover a similar participant headcount to Delta Retirement Plan? ▼
Among Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in other states, the closest by covered participants is American Electric Power System Retirement Plan in OH (15,595 participants, $4.5B in assets).

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Plan year 2023.

Source: DOL EFAST2 filing system (efast.dol.gov) - original filing retrieval by EIN 580218548.

Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA). See our methodology for details.