INVESTMENTS

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Investments, Debt and Equity Securities [Abstract]

We have developed strategic relationships with a number of airlines and airline services companies through joint ventures and other forms of cooperation and support, including equity investments. Our equity investments reinforce our commitment to these relationships and generally enhance our ability to offer input to the investee on strategic issues and direction, in some cases through representation on the board of directors of the investee.

Fair Value Investments. Changes in the valuation of investments accounted for at fair value are recorded in gain/(loss) on investments, net in our income statement within non-operating expense and are driven by changes in stock prices, foreign currency fluctuations and other valuation techniques for investments in companies without publicly-traded shares.

Equity Method Investments. We record our share of our equity method investees' financial results in our income statement as described in the table below.


Equity investments ownership interest and carrying value
	Accounting Treatment	Ownership Interest				Carrying Value
(in millions)		December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022		December 31, 2023		December 31, 2022
Air France-KLM	Fair Value	3	%	3	%	$	110	$	97
China Eastern	Fair Value	2	%	2	%	134		189
CLEAR	Fair Value	6	%	5	%	171		227
Grupo Aeroméxico	Equity Method(1)	20	%	20	%	421		412
Hanjin-KAL	Fair Value(2)	15	%	15	%	561		296
LATAM	Fair Value	10	%	10	%	658		403
Unifi Aviation	Equity Method(3)	49	%	49	%	162		165
Wheels Up	Fair Value(4)	38	%	21	%	903		54
Other investments	Various					337		285
Equity investments						$	3,457	$	2,128

(1)Results are included in miscellaneous, net in our income statement under non-operating expense.

(2)At December 31, 2023, we held 14.8% of the outstanding shares (including common and preferred), and 14.9% of the common shares, of Hanjin KAL.

(3)Results are included in contracted services in our income statement as this entity is integral to the operations of our business by providing services at many of our airport locations.

(4)See below for additional information about our ownership interest and voting rights.

Wheels Up. During 2023, we announced an expanded strategic partnership with Wheels Up, which included an agreement for a new credit facility to Wheels Up. This new credit facility is comprised of a $390 million term loan, of which we contributed $150 million and several other lenders contributed the remaining $240 million, and a $100 million liquidity facility that we made available to Wheels Up in the event the company's liquidity falls below $100 million. In connection with the credit facility, the term loan investors received newly issued shares of Wheels Up's common stock representing 95% of Wheels Up's outstanding equity on a fully diluted basis as of the closing of the initial extension of credit.

Our $150 million cash contribution was reflected as an investing outflow in our cash flows statement and allocated on a relative fair value basis to a loan receivable within other noncurrent assets and an equity investment on our balance sheet. Combined with our previous ownership stake, this new investment provides us with a 38% equity interest in Wheels Up. Delta's voting rights with respect to its Wheels Up equity interest are capped at 29.9%.

As a result of the transaction, we concluded that Wheels Up is a variable interest entity ("VIE"). A VIE requires consolidation by the entity’s primary beneficiary. We determined that we are not the primary beneficiary after assessing the decision-making process for the significant activities of Wheels Up, concluding that Wheels Up's Board of Directors continues to possess the decision-making authority over the significant activities, and we do not control Wheels Up's Board. Based on this assessment, Wheels Up is not consolidated in our financial statements.

We continue to account for our Wheels Up equity interest under the fair value option, as originally elected as part of our initial acquisition of Wheels Up shares in 2020. During 2023, we recorded a $786 million mark-to-market gain on our investment in Wheels Up based on the closing price of its shares as traded on the New York Stock Exchange. As of December 31, 2023, Wheels Up's public float was under 5% of the total outstanding shares which contributed to significant volatility in the value of our Wheels Up equity investment since the announcement of Wheels Up's credit facility in September 2023. The Wheels Up shares issued to Delta and the other term loan lenders were unregistered as of December 31, 2023 and are subject to a contractual transfer restriction until the first anniversary of the credit facility (September 2024). Following the expiration of this restriction, our equity investment in Wheels Up will be subject to certain, more limited transfer restrictions. We also account for our loan receivable at fair value, as the fair value option is applied to all of an investor's financial interests in the same entity. None of the $100 million liquidity facility has been drawn as of December 31, 2023.

Other Investments

This category includes various investments that are accounted for at fair value or under the equity method, depending on our ownership interest and the level of influence conveyed by our investment. Among others, this category includes our equity method investments in Virgin Atlantic and JFK IAT Member LLC.

Virgin Atlantic. The carrying value of our investment in Virgin Atlantic remains zero as of December 31, 2023. We maintain our 49% equity interest and continue to track our share of Virgin Atlantic's losses under the equity method of accounting. These previously unrecognized losses are only recorded to the extent we make additional investments in Virgin Atlantic (i.e., additional shareholder support). As of December 31, 2023, we have approximately $400 million of unrecognized equity method losses related to our 49% interest in Virgin Atlantic.

JFK IAT Member LLC is discussed further in Note 8, "Airport Redevelopment."