Delta Air Lines

Major global commercial airline operator
Last updated:
January 23, 2026
Company details
HQ
Atlanta, GA
HEADCOUNT
10000+
ORG TYPE
Corporate
SECTOR
Travel & Hospitality
About the company
Delta Air Lines is a global airline that transports passengers and cargo across a large domestic and international route network, with customer-facing roles spanning airports, in-flight service, and operations control. Delta Air Lines also runs sizeable corporate functions, including finance, commercial strategy, and technology that support planning, revenue management, and day-to-day operations. Public filings and the company careers site describe a workforce of more than 100,000 employees.
Locations and presence
Delta Air Lines is headquartered in Atlanta, and the company notes that most student opportunities are based in Atlanta because it is the location of Delta Air Lines’ global headquarters. Delta Air Lines operates broadly across the U.S. and internationally, with work setup varying by role, including on-site training requirements for frontline roles like flight attendants.
Palpable Score
74.8
/ 100
Delta Air Lines offers multiple early-career doors through paid internships, multi-semester co-ops, and rotational programs, plus entry-level frontline roles with structured training. Hiring transparency is strongest in specific tracks like flight attendants and pilots where stages are spelled out, while candidate-reported timelines still vary. Pay and stability signals are helped by broad benefits and profit-sharing, but the company does not publish consistent early-career outcome metrics such as conversion rates or time-to-promotion.
Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

16.6
/ 20
  • The company advertises a dedicated Students & Early Careers funnel that includes internships, co-ops, MBA roles, and a rotational program rather than relying on ad hoc junior hiring.
  • Delta Air Lines states co-op roles run year-round with rotations every semester (spring, summer, fall), which is a recurring access route for students.
  • The company offers additional entry pathways outside corporate student programs, including flight attendant hiring with a defined training pipeline that does not require prior airline experience to be meaningful as a first career step.

Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

13.9
/ 20
  • The company lays out a clear, staged flight attendant selection flow (assessments, HireVue interview, in-person Event Day, conditional offer), which reduces guessing for applicants.
  • Delta Air Lines publishes process detail for experienced pilot applicants, including dual application review and named stages like online assessment, panel interview, and two-week indoctrination after hiring.
  • The company’s public interview feedback includes wide variation in duration and steps across roles (including reports of long timelines for flight attendants), which makes planning harder for early-career candidates.

Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

16.1
/ 20
  • The company highlights professional development and networking with leaders as a standard part of the student experience, not an optional extra.
  • Delta Air Lines specifies substantial, structured training for flight attendants, including a 7-week onsite training program in Atlanta after pre-employment steps.
  • The company positions Propel as a mentored pathway into piloting, explicitly tying progression support to mentorship from Delta pilots across the program.

Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

15.1
/ 20
  • The company states that all students and graduates in the student programs are compensated for their time, and Delta Air Lines also offers an out-of-state housing stipend for each semester a student works at Delta.
  • Delta Air Lines lists broad employee benefits that support pay stability for early-career hires moving into full-time roles, including annual profit-sharing, a monthly operational incentive (Shared Rewards), 401(k) contributions, and paid parental leave policies.
  • The company does not consistently publish pay ranges for student programs on the student hub page, and the company directs candidates to recruiters for program-specific compensation details, which limits pre-application clarity.

Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

13.1
/ 20
  • The company has strong intern sentiment on a large review platform, with intern reviews showing a high overall rating and a very high “recommend to a friend” percentage, which is a practical short-term outcome signal.
  • Delta Air Lines links student programs to a potential next step by stating the goal is exposure across divisions that creates a potential path to an entry-level role after graduation.
  • The company does not publish cohort outcomes such as intern conversion rates, median time-to-promotion, or early-career retention by program, so longer-horizon progression has to be inferred from scattered anecdotes rather than published metrics.

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