Global 500 rank: 429 (Previous rank: 414)
2006 loss: $6.2 billion
Get quote: DALRising fuel prices and the post-9/11 travel slump continued to haunt Delta in 2006. The No. 3 airline in the U.S. spent the year in bankruptcy court and finished with a wider loss than the year before, mostly due to pension-related costs. The 2007 outlook is less turbulent: The carrier rejected an $8.5 billion buyout bid from US Airways, emerged from bankruptcy, and lost only $130 million in the first quarter (compared to $2.1 billion in the same period a year earlier).
See more Global 500 data for Delta Air Lines 
Old-economy outfits top Fortune's annual Global 500 list, thanks to rising oil prices and a slew of mergers that drove record profits. (more) 
Wal-Mart retakes the lead as the world's biggest company. See which other outfits top our list. (more) 
Exxon Mobil leads our list of top earners this year. Which other companies are among the most profitable on the planet? (more) 
