Delta, AmEx renew credit card deal; Delta boosts outlook

American Express and Delta extended their credit card partnership through 2029, the companies jointly announced Tuesday, a significant extension of one of the larger financial partnerships between a major US airline and a credit card company. Separately, Delta raised its forecast of Q1 profit, citing higher demand from business travellers. Delta shares rose and helped lift other airline stocks in afternoon trading. American Express will pay Delta more per year for the partnership, up to nearly $7b annually by 2023 from $3.4b paid in 2018. Joseph DeNardi, an airline analyst for Stifel, said the announcement was sooner than anticipated "and the improvement in revenue and economics are significantly better than we were expecting." DeNardi said the deal's long duration makes it more likely that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway will buy Delta. Berkshire Hathaway is Delta's biggest shareholder. It recently increased its stake to 10.4%, and those shares were worth $3.7 billion at Delta's stock price on Tuesday afternoon. The possibility of Buffett buying an airline has been the subject of much speculation in recent months, with most of the attention focused on Delta and Southwest.<br/>