Do airlines make money from credit cards?

For decades, airlines have leaned on rewards cards for their steady revenue stream—particularly during industry contractions. In fact, the billions in revenue generated by U.S. airline rewards cards and loyalty programs can, at times, outpace overall sales growth.



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The main negative aspect of airline credit cards is the lack of redemption options. Since you'll only earn a single frequent flyer currency, you can only redeem miles with that specific airline and its partners.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, the average profit per passenger of the seven largest U.S. airlines was $17.75 — for just a one-way flight — and the average profit margin across those seven airlines was 9% in 2017.

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A large part of an airline's profitability depends on the routes it flies. Even at a time when profits have been under pressure, some routes will still earn airlines hundreds of millions of dollars, with the most lucrative route in the world being worth over $1 billion, according to Forbes.

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On top of that, the issuer often rebates the usual merchant processing fees when the customer makes a purchase from the airline. So co-branded cards carry precious few costs while bringing in easy revenue. Considering that, an airline would almost be foolish not to offer one or several.

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The most profitable passenger airline in North America in 2022 was Delta Air Lines, with operating revenue of almost 50.6 billion U.S. dollars, followed closely by American Airlines, with nearly 49 billion U.S. dollars in revenue.

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Both Ryanair and EasyJet uniquely use one genre of plane, 737 and a320 family respectively. All employees: pilots, mechanics, flight staff etc therefore solely require training for that one vehicle. Both training costs and even more valuable – the currency of the low-cost – time, is drastically saved.

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The Best Credit Cards for Travel Purchases When it comes to booking travel, it's best to use a credit card that will get you additional travel insurance like the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Chase Sapphire Reserve, or the Platinum Card from American Express.

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Many premium travel rewards credit cards offer complimentary, unlimited access to thousands of airport lounges worldwide. Priority Pass is one of the most popular airport lounge memberships, and it's the most common lounge membership you'll see featured as a credit card benefit.

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Lufthansa is Europe's largest airline group by revenue. IAG is the most profitable and lowest cost network airline group in Western Europe (i.e. excluding Turkish).

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Strong demand and rising ticket prices offset Ryanair's skyrocketing operational costs through 2023, with revenue increasing to €10.78 billion. Photo: Ryanair. Despite a slow Q4 and soaring operational costs, Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair raked in a near-record €1.43 billion ($1.54 billion) profit in 2022.

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