These MN Employees Are Now In Line For A Massive Bonus

Minnesota employees working for the largest airline in the state are now in line to get a massive bonus, just in time for Valentine's Day this year.

If you were lucky enough to receive a raise in pay for this new year, or if your company or employer has a profit-sharing plan, it's probably still not as much as the massive bonus these employees here in the Land of 10,000 Lakes are getting this year.

Delta Air Lines Minnesota Employees Set to Receive Huge Bonus

So which employees are we talking about... and how much are they getting? Well, that would be employees of Delta Air Lines, and they are going to be getting a LOT. That's because Delta just announced that its employees here in Minnesota and across the globe will receive $1.3 billion as their share of the airline’s 2025 profits.

SEE ALSO: Delta's MN Flights Just Finished First Nationwide In This Important Category

While that's a massive amount, it is just slightly lower than the $1.4 billion dollars in profit-sharing that Delta employees received in 2025-- an amount that still holds the record for the largest share ever.

Why Delta Still Feels Like a Minnesota Airline

Delta Air Lines is based in Atlanta, Georgia, but has its second-largest hub here in the North Star State at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport near Bloomington. I still kind of think of Delta as a 'Minnesota' airline, seeing as it merged with Minnesota's Eagan-based Northwest Airlines back in 2008.

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According to a corporate release, Delta says it has a current workforce of around 100,000 full-time employees. And, this MPR story says that when the Delta-Northwest merger was completed in 2010, Delta promised to employ at least 10,000 people here in Minnesota, with the total likely being closer to 12,000.

When Delta Employees Will Get Their Profit-Sharing Checks

And those thousands of employees will likely have a happy Valentine's Day this year, as the day before, February 13, 2026, is the day Delta is issuing each employee its share of that $1.3 billion. Delta says those checks are likely to be a significant amount for most employees:

Delta employees worldwide will receive $1.3 billion as their share of the airline’s 2025 profits, resulting in an 8.9% estimated payout of eligible annual earnings, or more than four weeks of extra pay on average.

Delta said it is able to share that impressive amount of profits with its employees thanks to another profitable year in 2025. According to a release, this year’s $1.3 billion payout is a top 5 payout in the airline’s history and is expected to be more than the industry combined. Since 2022, Delta says it will have shared nearly $5 billion in profits with employees, or more than 18 weeks of pay.

As we said, Delta merged with Eagan-based Northwest Airlines back in 2008. Northwest was one of those brands that was once huge here in Minnesota (kind of like Dayton's also was), but that now no longer exists. Which is the same for many of the following famous brands. Keep scrolling to see how many YOU remember!