Defined Benefit (Pension) · DOL Form 5500 · 2024

Delta Air Lines, Inc. Pension Plan

Data updated 2026-08-25

$4.0B
Total assets Very large vs avg
6,579
Participants Above avg headcount
100th
Percentile by assets National rank
$600,826
Avg per participant High balance/head
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Official DOL plan name: Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees · Sponsored by Delta Air Lines, Inc. · Georgia · Transportation & Warehousing

$4.0B in assets, 6,579 participants

Delta Air Lines, Inc.'s Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees reported $4.0B in total assets and 6,579 participants in its 2024 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.

  • #3,273 in Transportation & Warehousing (3,299 peers)

Coverage in Georgia

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees covers 6,579 participants in Georgia, 6.0x the typical Georgia plan (state average ~1,096 per filing). Assets: $4.0B.

#3,273
in Transportation & Warehousing (3,299 peers)
+2.8%
assets growth YoY
40×
vs typical plan assets (national mean)

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees's outsized position by total assets

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees vs every filed plan by assets

End-of-year total assets · plan year 2024 · DOL Form 5500

$3,952,833,332 Highest reported value at or above every one of 123,620 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 2024

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees's large-plan peer group by participant headcount

Plan-year 2024 Form 5500 filings with a reported participant count, partitioned by headcount band, not by assets. Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees lands in the large band (6,579 participants).

What changed between DOL Form 5500 filings

plan year 2023 → plan year 2024

  • Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees reported net income fell from $326M in the plan year 2023 filing to $108M in the plan year 2024 filing.
  • Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees reported participants fell from 6,817 in the plan year 2023 filing to 6,579 in the plan year 2024 filing.
  • Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees end-of-year assets rose from $3.8B in the plan year 2023 filing to $4.0B in the plan year 2024 filing.

See the national 2023→2024 release diff →

Form 5500 schedule snapshot

Filing strip 580218548 · Delta Air Lines, Inc. PY 2024 · Defined Benefit (Pension)

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees · $4.0B · 6,579 · 100th

  • TYPE $4.0B
  • NET 6,579
  • BOOK 100th
  • VS-ST Defined Benefit (Pension)
  • BOY near New York Life Insurance Company Pension Plan
  • SCH ind #3273

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 →

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees in the asset neighbourhood

Lucent Technologies Inc. Pension PlanLucent Technologies Inc. Pen…$4.0BBert Bell/Pete Rozelle Nfl Player Retirement PlanBert Bell/Pete Rozelle Nfl P…$4.0BNorthwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract EmployeesNorthwest Airlines Pension P…$4.0BNew York Life Insurance Company Pension PlanNew York Life Insurance Comp…$4.0BOhio Operating Engineers Pension PlanOhio Operating Engineers Pen…$3.9B
End-of-year total assets ($B) among Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees and nearest nationwide Defined Benefit (Pension) peers. Source: DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024.

Georgia filing particulars

Total Assets (Beginning of Year)$3.8B
Net Assets (End of Year)$4.0B
Net Income$108M
Employer EIN580218548
Plan Effective Date1970-01-01
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.

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees vs. nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Georgia, assets vs. participants Scatter plot of 6 data points. -50000050000100000150000200000 0510152025 Total assets ($B) Participants Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees, Total assets ($B): 3.952833332 · Participants: 6579Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract EmployeesUPS Retirement Plan, Total assets ($B): 21.2364871 · Participants: 43465UPS Retirement PlanThe Southern Company Pension Plan, Total assets ($B): 15.319238036 · Participants: 25843The Southern Company Pension PlanUPS/Ibt Full-Time Employee Pension Plan, Total assets ($B): 12.219463258 · Participants: 69627UPS/Ibt Full-Time Employee Pension PlanUPS Pension Plan, Total assets ($B): 9.280234765 · Participants: 157587UPS Pension PlanDelta Retirement Plan, Total assets ($B): 7.253434311 · Participants: 15222Delta Retirement Plan
Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees vs. nearby Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in Georgia, assets vs. participants
Compare Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees side-by-side with 3 peers →

Scale composition for Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees reports $4.0B in end-of-year assets across 6,579 participants (0.032% of the $12.3T held by all Form 5500 filers in the national rollup , and 0.007% of 93,925,755 covered participants) - about $600,826 per participant (4.3x the national average assets-per-participant) . Net income for plan year 2024 was $108M.

This plan identity (EIN 580218548, plan #016) has 3 Form 5500 filings on file from 2022 to 2024 , with end-of-year assets moving from $3.5B to $4.0B (+12.3%) while covered participants moved from 6,939 to 6,579 . Single-year sparse filers cannot show that trail.

Plan year Participants EOY assets Filing
2022 6,939 $3.5B Open filing
2023 6,817 $3.8B Open filing
2024 · index core 6,579 $4.0B This page

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

Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees's out-of-state Defined Benefit (Pension) peers by assets and headcount

Outside Georgia, the nearest Defined Benefit (Pension) by assets is New York Life Insurance Company Pension Plan in NY ($4.0B); by covered participants it is Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation Retirement Plan in MD (6,555 participants). Same-state nearby plans are listed separately above.

Closest by plan assets

Nearest other-state filings by tot_assets_eoy ($4.0B here).

Similar participant headcount

Nearest other-state filings by covered participants (6,579 participants); asset peers above are excluded.

DOL Form 5500 plan year 2024. Asset totals can differ widely at the same headcount; neither axis is a quality rating.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees assets move in 2024? ▼
Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees edged up modestly - up 2.8% during 2024, from $3.8B to $4.0B. Reported net income was $108M.
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 Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees rank by assets among Form 5500 filers? ▼
Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees ranks in the 100th percentile by end-of-year assets among 123,622 plans that reported assets for plan year 2024 (among the largest 1% of all filed plans).
Which Defined Benefit (Pension) plans are similar in size to Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees? ▼
Among Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in other states, the closest by assets is New York Life Insurance Company Pension Plan in NY ($4.0B, 9,376 participants).
Which Defined Benefit (Pension) plans cover a similar participant headcount to Northwest Airlines Pension Plan for Contract Employees? ▼
Among Defined Benefit (Pension) plans in other states, the closest by covered participants is Johns Hopkins Health System Corporation Retirement Plan in MD (6,555 participants, $2.3B in assets).

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Plan year 2024.

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.