note

Delta Air Lines can trace its roots to Huff Deland Dusters - a pioneering crop dusting operation founded in Monroe Louisiana in 1925. In 1928, it was acquired by C.E. Woolman, who incorporated a new company, Delta Air Service. Delta began to operate passenger and mail service on June 17, 1929 on a Dallas-Shreveport-Monroe-Jackson route, using a fleet of 3 Travel Air S-6000-Bs and a Stinson Detroiter. Service was extended to Meridian, Tuscaloosa, and Birmingham later in the year. In 1930, Congress passed a law which redistributed air mail contracts, favoring the large carriers. Delta's route was turned over to American Airways, so Delta was again a crop dusting operation.

Following the Air Mail Act of 1934, a new company, Delta Air Corporation, was formed to bid on airmail contracts. It was awarded a similar route that its predecessor had flown, between Ft Worth and Charleston (SC), with multiple stops in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. It began flying on July 9, 1934 using Stinson T aircraft acquired from American Airlines. As traffic increased the airline added Stinson Trimotors, Lockheed L-10 Electras, DC-2s, and a DC-3 prior to World War II. A new route from Cincinnati to Atlanta was added in 1941. Also in 1941 the airline moved headquarters from Monroe to Atlanta.

In 1945 Delta Air Corp. became Delta Air Lines. The same year its route system expanded northward from Cincinnati to Chicago, and from Knoxville through Greenville, Augusta, and southward to Miami. Its first DC-4 (ex-USAAF) were added in 1946, and its first DC-6s (new) in 1948. Convair 340s were added beginning in 1952; these were upgraded to 440s in 1956-57, along with the delivery of new aircraft. On May 1, 1953, Delta merged with Chicago & Southern Airlines, and the combined airline traded as Delta-C&S Air Lines until September 1955. The merger gave Delta north-south routes from Chicago to Houston and New Orleans, as well as extensions from both to Cuba, the Caribbean, and Venezuela. The merger also put Lockheed Constellations into the Delta fleet. In April 1954, the fitrst DC-7 was placed in service on a new Chicago-Miami route.

In early 1956 Delta was awarded a new Atlanta-New York route, with authorized stops in Charlotte, Washington, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Additional routes awarded in 1958 allowed for the addition of flights from the Great Lakes region to the southeast, including the new cities of Dayton, Columbus, and Louisville. Service at Orlando, Tampa, and West Palm Beach was also added.

On September 18, 1959 Delta became first airline to put Douglas DC-8 into service when it inaugurated Atlanta - New York route. The jets were soon serving the Atlanta-Miami, Chicago-Miami, Chicago-Atlanta, Atlanta-Dallas, and Detroit-Miami routes. Delta became also first airline to put Convair 880 into service on May 15, 1960 on flights from New York to Atlanta, New Orleans, and Houston.

In 1961 Delta was awarded its first "transcontinental" route, which had previously operated through an interchange agreement with American. The airline added flights on routes: Atlanta-Los Angeles, Dallas-Los Angeles, Dallas-San Diego, and Dallas-Las Vegas. Flights to San Francisco from Atlanta, Dallas, and Las Vegas were added later in the year. In May 1964, it began an interchange operation with Pan Am, using a Pan Am DC-8 on the New Orleans-Atlanta-Washington (Dulles) route. The aircraft would continue with Pan Am crews to Philadelphia, and then fly to either London or Paris on alternate days.

On December 8, 1965 Delta became the first airline to operate the DC-9 on several routes from Atlanta. The DC-9 would be the airplane that would replace much of Delta's piston airplanes. Delta introduced Boeing 747 service on October 25, 1970 on the Atlanta-Dallas-Los Angeles route. The 747s proved to be too large for Delta, and all five were sold between 1974 and 1977.

On August 1, 1972 Northeast Airlines was merged into Delta, giving Delta access to some important markets, as well as its first nonstop services from the northeast to Florida. In the transaction, Delta acquired its first ever Boeing 727s as well a a small fleet of FH-227s. Delta began taking delivery of its own 727s in 1973.

Delta's second widebody the L-1011 was scheduled for delivery in 1972. Due to production delays, the aircraft would not be ready until late 1973. The airline ordered five DC-10s in a sale/leaseback agreement with United. The first DC-10 went into service on November 22, 1972, and the first Tristar on December 15, 1973. The DC-10s were gone by May 1975.

With the Airline Deregulation Act becoming law in October 1978, the next ten years saw rapid route and fleet expansion. The 1980s saw the addition of Boeing 767s, 757s and 737s. Domestic services began to polarize into hub-and-spoke networks; for Delta, first at Atlanta followed by Dallas and Cincinnati. Alliances were forged with regional carriers to form the Delta Connection system.

In 1987 Delta absorbed Western Airlines, giving Delta additional cities in the west and a hub at Salt Lake City. In 1990, Delta became first airline to use McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft. In 1996 Delta Air Lines introduced a new product "Delta Express" which was a low-fare, no-frills subsidiary to compete with Southwest and Valujet. It used 737-200s mainly on routes to Florida.

In 1991 Delta acquired several assets of bankrupt Pan Am. Delta acquired Pan Am's European routes, the Worldport terminal in New York, the Pan Am Shuttle, as well as 45 aircraft. The Shuttle operation was assumed on September 1, while the remaining routes were assumed on November 1. Delta would also have a large financial investment in the new Pan Am, whose international operations would be limited to the Caribbean and Central and South America. Due to continuing losses at Pan Am, and lack of confidence in its viability, Delta elected not to make the last payment in its investment, which caused Pan Am to cease operations.

In 2000 Delta together with Air France, Korean Air and Aeromexico formed SkyTeam airline alliance, which provided more seamless services when traveling on each others routes. On April 15, 2003, Delta launched a leisure airline division called Song, which replaced Delta Express. Using 757s, Song offered leather seating, upgraded on-board entertainment options, and brand name meals (at extra cost). The Song operations ended on April 30, 2006, as part of plan to reduce costs. The Song airplanes were reintegrated into the Delta fleet.

Following the events of September 2001, the airlines entered a period of turmoil resulting in bankruptcies for many. Delta was no exception, and it had to fend off shareholders requests to sell the company as well as a hostile takeover attempt from US Airways. In the end, Delta entered bankruptcy in September 2005 and exited on April 30, 2007. On October 29, 2008, a Delta subsidiary merged into Northwest Airlines Corporation, and its subsidiary companies (including Northwest Airlines and owned regional carriers) became wholly-owned subsidiaries of Delta. The airlines merged on February 1, 2010.

founded - demised (age)

July 9 1934 - present  (91years)

headquarters

Hartsfield International Airport, Atlanta

web

www.delta.com	customer site
deltamuseum.org

base airports

KATL Hartsfield - Jackson Atlanta International Atlanta	hub
KCVG Northern Kentucky International Cincinnati - Covington	focus city
KJFK J F Kennedy International New York	hub
KLAX Los Angeles International Los Angeles	focus city
KSLC International Salt Lake City	hub
KDTW Wayne County International Detroit	hub via Northwest
KMSP International Minneapolis - St Paul	hub via Northwest
RJAA Narita International Tokyo	hub via Northwest

related operators

Song	ex low cost subsidiary
Western Airlines	merged 4/87
Northeast Airlines	merged 8/72
Comair	ex regional subsidiary
Northwest Airlines	acquired 2008
C&S Chicago & Southern Airlines	acquired 1953
Endeavor Air	fully-owned regional carrier
Virgin Atlantic Airways	49% Stake purchased 2012
Delta Express	ex low cost subsidiary
Delta Connection	regional affiliate brand
SkyWest Airlines