Full-time working women at companies based in the United States earn about 79 cents for every dollar men earn, according to the US Census Bureau.

At Delta, there is virtually no pay gap: in administrative jobs women earn 98 per cent of what men do, and there’s statistical parity among male and female frontline or “scale” employees.

Company leaders said the airline won’t be satisfied until that gap is reduced to zero for all employees.

“Delta’s overall pay parity between men and women is nearly perfect for all of 80,000 employees.

“Excluding scale employees, who truly are at 100 per cent pay parity, we are at 98 per cent,” said Joanne Smith, executive vice president and chief human resources officer.

“Although this is well ahead of the national average, we won’t be satisfied until the gap is zero.”

The gender pay disparity has made headlines across the worlds of business, politics and sports.

President Obama made his latest push to advance equal pay in January, proposing a new rule requiring companies to report pay data broken down by gender, race and ethnicity.

The topic has come up repeatedly during the presidential race.

In March, five stars on the US women’s national soccer team filed a wage-discrimination action against the US Soccer Federation.

And at the beginning of April, 100 Boston businesses announced their commitment to closing the gender wage gap.

The gender wage gap has far-reaching effects for women.

Over a 40-year career, the gap costs women more than $430,000, according to a recent study by the National Women’s Law Centre.

“Equal compensation between men and women is a major priority for Delta,” said Letty Ashworth, Delta director – global diversity.

“Delta’s long-term success is directly related to maintaining a diverse work environment, where our differences make us stronger and encourage us to challenge ourselves.

“Women are a huge part of that.”

More Information

Delta Air Lines serves nearly 180 million customers each year.

With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 324 destinations in 58 countries on six continents.

Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 800 aircraft.

Delta Air Lines is Event Partner to the World Travel Awards Latin America Gala Ceremony 2016.

For more information on the airline head over to the official website, or there is more information on World Travel Awards here.