Sweet Sixteen: Delta named No. 1 for business travelers for 16th consecutive year

The annual Business Travel News (BTN) airline survey, which asks corporate travel professionals to rank airlines on a variety of attributes, has named Delta Air Lines the top carrier for business travelers for the 16th consecutive year.

Staff Writer

Nov 9, 2026 10:30am

Business Travel News (BTN), the leading global source of business travel information and intelligence, has named Delta Air Lines the top carrier for business travelers for the 16th consecutive year, an unprecedented run as the airline embarks on its next century of flight.

“Earning this recognition 16 years in a row speaks to something much bigger: the consistency of Delta’s commitment to business travelers and the continued trust our corporate customers and agency partners to place in us,” said Delta’s Senior Vice President of Global Sales, Bob Somers. “That trust is something we have to earn every day by listening, evolving and delivering the reliability, service and solutions our customers need. We’re incredibly proud of this win, and even more energized by the opportunity to keep raising the bar for business travel.”

The annual BTN airline survey asks corporate travel professionals to rank airlines on a variety of attributes, including customer service, sales support, distribution, network, products and services.

Widely recognized as the corporate travel industry’s benchmark, the BTN Airline Survey ranks airlines based on travel managers’ and buyers’ feedback on customer service, distribution and overall value, among other categories.

In 2026, Delta Business built on recent investments to make managed travel simpler, more connected and more responsive to the needs of corporate customers and agency partners, including:

A reimagined Delta Business experience: The new Delta Business site began rolling out to U.S. corporate customers earlier this year, bringing intuitive navigation, smarter search and a streamlined wallet experience together in one platform designed around the needs of travel programs.

New agency platform arriving in 2027: The platform is being designed to give agency partners greater self-service capabilities, enhanced user and permission management, disruption management tools, operational visibility and new ways to interact with Delta through a single interface.

Introduced Proactive Servicing: Delta's Global Sales Solutions team launched a new proactive servicing initiative designed to help customers and agencies stay ahead of travel disruptions. The program includes weekly operational forecasts, targeted operational alerts, expanded traveler-impact visibility and new communication tools providing earlier awareness and greater operational transparency.

The next generation of distribution: Delta continued advancing its NDC strategy in 2026, including testing with agency partners and laying the foundation for future capabilities focused on greater flexibility, personalization and servicing.

These investments are part of Delta's broader effort to create a more connected travel ecosystem that combines distribution flexibility, digital innovation and high-touch servicing.