Delta Overtakes United to Become 2nd Largest Airline After American

Delta is now the no. 2 U.S. airline

As the current wave of airline industry consolidation comes to an end, there has been a subtle but significant realignment in the industry.

United Airlines, which released operational performance figures for December 2015 late Monday, is no longer the country’s second largest airline based on passenger traffic. That slot was assumed by Delta Air Lines, which last week reported increases in traffic, capacity, and load factor.

Delta’s total system traffic for the year was 209.6 billion revenue passenger miles, or RPMs, while United reported 208.6 billion.

American Airlines, which merged with US Airways in 2013, remains in the number one slot.

But the change was already in the making. Delta was already in the number two position based on revenue in 2014, with $40.3 billion versus United’s $38.9 billion.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)