in August 2003, showing the livery the airline instituted in 2000.]]
('''OTC headquartered in
Atlanta, Georgia , operating a large domestic and international network that spans
North America ,
South America ,
Europe ,
Asia , and the
Caribbean . When non-stop flights begin in December 2006 to
Dakar ,
Senegal (from where continuing flights will continue to
Johannesburg ,
South Africa ), Delta will be the only U.S. airline to operate flights to
Africa .
Delta operates hubs at
Atlanta ,
Cincinnati ,
New York-JFK , and
Salt Lake City . Delta also has large operations in many other cities, including
Boston ,
Fort Lauderdale ,
Los Angeles ,
New York-LaGuardia ,
Orlando , and
Washington-Reagan . Delta is also the leading carrier in
Florida . Its major international gateways are Atlanta, Cincinnati, and New York-JFK.
In terms of passengers carried (87 million in 2004), Delta is the second-largest airline in the world (behind
American Airlines ). In terms of total operating revenues, Delta is the fourth-largest airline in the world (behind
Air France-KLM , American Airlines, and
United Airlines ) Effective June 29, 2006, Delta (including its wholly owned subsidiary,
Comair , Inc.) will serve 240 domestic cities in all 50 U.S. states (the first airline to achieve this benchmark)
{Link without Title} . The airline also serves Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in addition to 45 countries.
Delta Air Lines, Inc. is incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware.
As of 2005, the directors of Delta Air Lines are:
Of all major U.S. airlines, Delta is the least unionized. As of September 1, 2005, Delta had a total of 52,000 full-time equivalent employees, of which 18% were represented by unions.
Delta operates three airline brands:
- , the "mainline" brand, serves primarily long-haul, high-volume flights and most international services.
- operates short-haul, high frequency service in single-class configuration McDonnell Douglas MD-88 s between Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C.
- began service on April 15, 2003 as a single-class airline operated by Delta to compete directly with JetBlue Airways from both airlines' hubs at New York-JFK. While the brand was considered a successful addition to the Northeast-to-Florida market, financially the airline suffered. As a result, on May 1, 2006, Song was folded in to the Delta mainline brand, and "Song" service will remain in place on certain long-haul domestic flights, in some ways competing directly with United Airlines ' "p.s." service for transcontinental flights.
Separate regional airlines operate feeder flights, under brand-marketing and
Code Share agreements, primarily to Delta hub cities under the
Delta Connection banner. These airlines include wholly-owned subsidiary
Comair , as well as independent carriers
Chautauqua Airlines ,
Shuttle America (both subsidiaries of
Republic Airways Holdings ),
SkyWest (a subsidiary of SkyWest, Inc.),
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (a former Delta wholly-owned subsidiary acquired by SkyWest, Inc. in 2005), and
Freedom Airlines (a subsidiary of
Mesa Airlines ).
American Eagle , the regional subsidiary of
American Airlines , operates some flights in southern California codeshared as Delta Connection flights.
Delta awards the annual
Delta Prize For Global Understanding in conjunction with the
University Of Georgia .
The company has its roots in
Huff Daland Dusters , which was founded in
1924 in
Macon, Georgia by several partners including
Collett E. Woolman becoming the world's first aerial crop dusting company. Huff Daland moved to
Monroe, Louisiana the following year. In
1928 ,
Huff Daland Dusters was purchased by C.E. Woolman and renamed after the
Mississippi Delta , where its route connected
Dallas, Texas to
Jackson, Mississippi , via
Shreveport, Louisiana and
Monroe . By
1934 , Delta Air began mail service from Charleston to Fort Worth, including Atlanta, Augusta and other stops in Georgia.
In
1941 , Delta moved its headquarters from
Monroe to
Atlanta, Georgia , to center itself along its new route network that connected
Chicago and
New Orleans to
Florida and
Ohio which would later become a Delta hub. In the
1950s , Delta began flights from New Orleans to the Caribbean and Venezuela, becoming the number 2 U.S. carrier in the region after
Pan Am and
Braniff . On May 1, 1953, Delta merged with Chicago and Southern to expand routes in Midwest. In
1955 Delta introduced the "hub and spoke system" where flights are routed to a central point then sent out to other cities. By the early
1960s , Delta's route network stretched to the West Coast, and
Dallas was emerging as its second hub city.
Delta was the launch operator of the
DC-8 , which began service in 1959, and the
Convair CV-880 in 1960. The DC-8's graceful swept-wing design inspired Delta to come up with a new logo which incorporated a new red, white, and blue triangle logo (the "widget"). Just a few years later, Delta became the launch operator of the
DC-9 . By
1970 , Delta was an all jet aircraft airline.
In
1970 , Delta entered the "wide-body" jet era with the purchase of five
Boeing 747 s to service its new long-haul high density routes. However, Delta found no need for them and sold them a few years later. Shortly thereafter, Delta leased a small number of
DC-10 s as a stopgap until its larger order of the new
Lockheed L-1011 TriStars could be delivered.
Delta purchased
Northeast Airlines in
1972 to strengthen its market share in the northeastern
United States . Through the purchase, Delta began its long
Boeing 727 operation.
In
1973 the Lockheed TriStar entered service for Delta. Delta placed these aircraft in international service from Atlanta to
London in
1978 ;
Frankfurt was added the following year. Delta's fast growth showed in
August 1979 when it became the first airline in the world to board one million passengers in one city in one month (
Atlanta ).
Delta launched its first frequent flyer program in
1981 which became the SkyMiles program in 1995. In 1982, Delta took delivery of their first 767-200, named the ''Spirit of Delta'', which was paid for "by voluntary contributions from employees, retirees and Delta's community partners." The effort, called Project 767, was spearheaded by three Delta flight attendants to show the employees' appreciation to Delta for solid management and strong leadership during the first years following airline deregulation." [http://www.l1011.homestead.com/SpirtofDL.html] The airplane remained the flagship of the Delta fleet until 2006, and was repainted in a commemorative paint scheme and toured the country to celebrate the airline's 75th anniversary in 2004. [http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2004/04/19/daily67.html]
In
1984 the company established its
Delta Connection partnership linking local "feeder" airlines that served mid-size population areas to Delta nodes. The same year, Delta began its first flight to
Hawaii (
Honolulu International Airport ) with L-1011 aircraft. That same year, Delta offered the nation's first public air-to-ground telephone system with
Airfone , on the L-1011. Delta was named 'Official Airline of
Walt Disney World ' in
1986 , and their official ride in the Magic Kingdom was
Delta Dreamflight .
In
1987 , Delta merged with
Western Airlines of
Los Angeles and absorbed its large hubs at
Salt Lake City and
Los Angeles . That year, Delta began flights from
Portland, Oregon to
Tokyo ,
Seoul , and
Bangkok , the airline's first transpacific routes, using
L-1011 aircraft. Through these acquisitions and expansions Delta became the fourth largest U.S. carrier and fifth largest world carrier.
In 1990, Delta became the first U.S. airline to operate the
MD-11 aircraft. Delta's most dramatic expansion came with its purchase of
Pan Am 's European routes in
1991 which included all north Atlantic routes and the Frankfurt, Germany hub, shortly before Pan Am declared bankruptcy. The purchase gave Delta the largest transatlantic route network which stands to today, and a small group of
A310 aircraft that were retired after a few years. Thanks to these acquisitions, Delta became and remains today the leading U.S. carrier across the Atlantic, in terms of passengers carried and number of flights operated. Delta also acquired Pan Am's northeastern shuttle, taking delivery of a number of
Boeing 727 s, later replaced by 737-800s and 737-300s. This became today's Delta Shuttle.
In
1993 Delta established a
Codesharing arrangement among other airlines, giving the company access to more destinations. By
1997 Delta began large expansions into
Latin America and in
1999 introduced the
Boeing 777 into its fleet, greatly increasing possibilities to longer non-stop services.
2000 saw the creation of
SkyTeam , a global alliance, initially partnering Delta with
AeroMéxico ,
Air France and
Korean Air . Three years later, Delta implemented the largest domestic codeshare alliance with
Continental Airlines and
Northwest Airlines , and
SkyTeam is now the second largest airline alliance in the world. Currently, membership is made up of
Aeroflot ,
Aeroméxico ,
Air France-KLM ,
Alitalia ,
Continental Airlines ,
Czech Airlines , Delta Air Lines,
Korean Air , and
Northwest Airlines . Delta also has codesharing agreements with
Aeroflot ,
Air Jamaica ,
Avianca ,
China Airlines ,
China Southern ,
El Al Israel Airlines ,
Royal Air Maroc ,
South African Airways , and domestic partners
Alaska Airlines ,
American Eagle ,
Continental Airlines ,
ExpressJet Airlines ,
Horizon Air ,
Mesaba Airlines ,
Northwest Airlines , and
Pinnacle Airlines .
Delta was one of the airlines targeted in the failed flying from Seoul to Bangkok via Taipei on
January 21 ,
1995 .
Delta was a founding partner of the online travel agency
Orbitz , which was purchased by
Cendant in 2004.
In an effort to simplify its fleet and capitalize on cross-platform compatibility not only in pilot training but also maintenance, the airline began to retire its trijets in favor of twinjets:
- The Lockheed L-1011 , for many years the workhorse of the Delta fleet, was replaced in 2001 with the Boeing 767-400 (which was, in fact, designed by Boeing as a specific replacement for Delta's and Continental 's L-1011 and DC-10 fleets, respectivly).
- The airline's many Boeing 727 's were completely replaced with Boeing 737-800 's in 2003 .
- Delta operated its last aircraft have been replaced with Boeing 777-200ERs . On September 23, 2004, a Delta spokesperson confirmed plans to sell eight MD-11s to FedEx .
Delta's entire active fleet is now comprised of twinjets, and the airline is the world's largest operator of
767 aircraft.
Continuing Delta's fleet transformation efforts, the airline plans to retire four more aircraft types. According to a report by ''Aviation Daily''
{Link without Title} , Delta is planning to retire its -200, -300, and
767-200 , with the fourth type undecided, being either the MD-88 or MD-90.
Replacement aircraft are currently unknown, although it is expected that the MD-88 or MD-90 will be replaced by a Boeing 737 family aircraft, probably the 737-800. However, in August 2005, Delta
announced the 737-300s operating their
Shuttle services would be replaced by nine MD-88s from their discontinued
Dallas hub and from
Salt Lake City , with a consequent rise in capacity (14 seats per aircraft) and provision of premium services on those routes.
On September 7, 2005, Delta announced that it had struck a deal whereby
Ohio -based
ABX Air Inc. will purchase 11
Boeing 767-200 aircraft from Delta, adding to the one previously purchased through a similar arrangement made in July 2005. The new agreement calls for ABX Air to take delivery of six of the eleven aircraft in calendar year 2006, two in 2007 and three in 2008, with payment due upon the delivery of each aircraft. The total deal is worth $190 million. Delta donated the company's first 767-200, The
Spirit Of Delta to the
Delta Heritage Museum . The Spirt of Delta was retired on March 3, 2006 after a farewell tour around the United States. After 2008, when through these arrangements all other 767-200 aircraft will have been sold, the two remaining 767-200s will be sent to the same desert storage location where the majority of the company's
L-1011 's are located.
As early as
2004 , in an effort to avoid
Bankruptcy , Delta had announced a restructuring of the company that included job cuts, as well as plans for expansion of Atlanta operations by some 100 new flights, making it a 'super-hub' and requiring the airline to spread its flight schedule more evenly across the day. Further, by mid-2004 the airline had announced it would be closing its fourth busiest hub (
Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport ), which it did on January 31, 2005. However, 2005 was a year of struggle for the airline, as evidenced by major overhauls in pricing and route systems, as well as financial deals considered by many in the industry and press as desparate.
On January 5, 2005, Delta introduced SimpliFares, a radical transformation of its fare structure, which cut its most expensive fares by as much as 50 percent nationwide and capped one-way domestic fares at $499 in coach class and $599 first class. However, due to continued high fuel costs, the company was forced to raise these fare caps by $100 in July, 2005, to $599 in coach class and $699 in first class. It also launched a system of "same-day confirmed" whereby for $25, a passenger is able to confirm a seat on a different flight instead of standing-by.
Also in
2005 , Delta applied to serve a daily non-stop flight from
Atlanta to
Beijing ,
China starting in March, 2006, but rights were instead awarded to
American Airlines operating from
Chicago , and
Continental Airlines out of
Newark .
On
August 15 , 2005, in an SEC filing, Delta announced that it had finalized a deal to sell Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines for $425 million in cash to SkyWest Airlines in an effort to obtain money to avoid bankruptcy. Analysts called the move a desperate one, estimating ASA's worth at around $700-$800 million — a price which SkyWest would not have been willing to pay.
On
September 7 , 2005, Delta announced that it would cut 26% of its flights at its
Cincinnati hub and redeploy aircraft to its hubs in
Atlanta and
Salt Lake City . The move will ultimately eliminate up to 1,000 jobs in Cincinnati. In addition and in hopes of increasing profit yields, the airline announced further international expansion into
Europe and
Latin America .
Unfortunately for the airline, none of these actions could prevent a bankruptcy filing, and on
September 14 , 2005, Delta filed for
Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection for the first time in its 76-year history. The company cited high labor costs and record-breaking
Jet Fuel prices as factors in its filing. At the time of the filing, Delta had $20.5 billion in debt, $10 billion of which was accumilated since January,
2001 .
Northwest Airlines ' bankruptcy filing on the same day added grist to months of speculation that the two airlines might merge. A major challenge in such a scenario however, would be that unlike Delta, Northwest has failed to simplify its fleet in any meaningful way and as a result, the two airlines' fleets are almost completely dissimilar.
On
September 22 , 2005, Delta announced the acceleration of restructuring activities, targeting an additional $3 billion per year in cost reductions by 2007. $970 million of this amount will come from debt relief, lease and facility savings, and previously commenced fleet modifications. Non-union workers' salaries will be reduced by a minimum of 9% across the board, with a 15% reduction for executive officers and a 25% pay cut for CEO Gerald Grinstein. Additionally, the company plans to lay off between 7,000 and 9,000 of its 52,000 employees.
As for its route network, Delta plans to alter its structure by reinforcing hub presence in Atlanta, Cincinnati, New York, and Salt Lake City, while at the same time increasing point-to-point routes, reducing domestic capacity by up to 20% while growing more profitable international route capacity up to 25%.
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"http://wwwinformationdelightinfo/encyclopedia/entry/Vrhbosna/February_9" class="copylinks">February 9 , 2006 , Delta announced its intention to expand to Africa, with non-stop flights from Atlanta to Dakar , Senegal and from Dakar to Johannesburg, South Africa {Link without Title} The service was approved by the United States government, making Delta the only United States airline to have non-stop service to Africa
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