Delta Air Lines
 Delta Boeing 747 at London (Heathrow) Airport, operated by Pan Am, in May 1974
|
Delta Air Lines is an airline based in Atlanta, Georgia, operating a large domestic network within the USA, as well as an international network that spans Europe, Asia, and Latin America. It has the IATA airline code DL. In addition to its main hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Delta operates hubs at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport and Salt Lake City International Airport. It is the largest carrier in the SkyTeam alliance.
Delta operates several airline brands. The mainline Delta brand serves long-haul, high-volume flights and most international services. Delta Connection feeds the airline's hubs with connecting traffic and is operated by Delta's wholly-owned subsidiaries Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, as well as Atlantic Coast Airlines in the northeast and mid-Atlantic states, Chautauqua Airlines in Florida, and SkyWest Airlines in the mountain states. Under a code share agreement, American Eagle also operates Delta Connection service out of Los Angeles. Short-haul, non-reserved services between major Northeastern U.S. cities are operated under the Delta Shuttle brand. Delta also owns Song, a no-frills, low-cost brand connecting northeastern cities with Florida, Puerto Rico, and Las Vegas.
Delta Air Lines' mainline division currently employs more than 60,000 people, and serves 138 cities in 34 countries, with an additional two cities in two countries slated for the future. Many more cities are served by the Delta Connection carriers, and by Delta's codeshare partners, including SNCF French Rail to rail stations in France.
Delta also 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, and through a number of mergers and acquisitions became the company it is today. In 1941, Delta moved its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia, near the center of its route network that connected Chicago and New Orleans to Florida.
In the 1950's, Delta began flights from New Orleans to the Caribbean and Venezuela, becoming the #2 US carrier in the region after Pan Am. By the early 1960's, Delta's route network stretched to the West Coast, and Dallas was emerging as its second hub city.
Delta purchased Northeast Airlines in 1972 to strengthen its market share in the northeastern United States. In 1978, Delta began flying from Atlanta to London with new Lockheed L-1011 aircraft: Frankfurt was added the following year.
In 1987, Delta took over Western Airlines 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, its first transpacific routes.
Delta's most dramatic expansion came with its purchase of Pan American's European routes in 1991, shortly before Pan Am declared bankruptcy. The purchase gave Delta the largest transatlantic route network through most of the 1990's.
Delta operated its last MD-11 flight on January 1, 2004, Flight 56 departing New Tokyo International Airport (now Narita International Airport) at 4:45pm. The aircraft arrived in Atlanta at 3:20pm. This concluded MD-11 service in the fleet, with Delta having retired the other three-engined aircraft, the Boeing 727, in 2003. Its entire active fleet is now comprised of twinjets. Delta had 14 MD-11's at the time of the aircraft's retirement.
On the morning of August 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191, on a Fort Lauderdale-Dallas-Los Angeles route, crashed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 133 of the 164 passengers on board. The crash would later become the subject of a television movie.
On August 31, 1988, Delta Air Lines Flight 1411, bound from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Salt Lake City International Airport, crashed after take-off.
History
Disasters
Delta Air Lines Fleet
Excludes aircraft operated by Delta Connection subsidiaries ComAir and Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
| Type | Number |
| Boeing 737-200 | 52 |
| Boeing 737-300 | 26 |
| Boeing 737-800 | 71 |
| Boeing 757-200 | 121 |
| Boeing 767-200 | 15 |
| Boeing 767-300 | 28 |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 59 |
| Boeing 767-400ER | 21 |
| Boeing 777-200 | 8 |
| MD-88 | 120 |
| MD-90 (DC-9) | 16 |
Destinations
The list does not include cities only served by Delta Connection.
Asia
East Asia
South Asia
Europe
North America
United States, U.S. Territories, Canada, and Mexico
Bermuda and the Caribbean, excluding US territories
Central America
South America
Other facts of interest
Copyright credit
Photo copyrighted by, and courtesy of, Mr. Ray Pettit.
| List of Aircraft - Aircraft Manufacturers - Aircraft Engines - Aircraft Engine Manufacturers |
| Airlines - Air Forces - Aircraft Weapons - Missiles - Years in Aviation |