Quick Airline Information:
✈Airline IATA* code: DL
✈Airline ICAO* code: DAL
✈Founded: 30 May 1924 (former Huff Daland Dusters company)
✈Website: www.delta.com
✈Alliance: Sky Team
✈History
✈Operations and Destinations 🌍
✈Fleet ✈️
✈Photo Slide 📷
✈Safety Video 🎬
✈Airline reviews ⭐
*IATA: (International Air Transport Association)
*ICAO: (International Civil Aviation Organization)
History Menu:
Delta's origins can be traced as the first aerial crop dusting company. A decision made by B. R. Coad and Collett E. Woolman. They worked on finding a solution to the boll weevil infestation of cotton crops and concluded that the "dusting" of an insecticide powder from the air would be the most effective form of treatment. From this decision, Huff Daland Dusters Incorporated was born. It was founded on May 30, 1924, in Macon, Georgia. The company moved to Monroe, Louisiana, in 1925.
Woolman returned to the United States, after a few years in Peru to set up a new "dusting" airline. In 1928 he raised the capital to buy Huff Daland, and renaming the company Delta Air Service, with its headquarters in Monroe. The name Delta, referring to the Mississippi Delta.
In 1930 the Delta Air Corporation (as it was then called) expanded eastward to include service to Atlanta, the fastest-growing city in the South, and westward to Fort Worth, Texas. This service was terminated in 1930 after the "Spoils Conference", when the Post Office awarded the route to American Airlines. Delta's lack of success in winning a commercial airmail contract, the bread and butter of any aspiring airline, jeopardized its existence, and the company suspended passenger service.
A reprieve came for Delta when the U.S. Congress enacted the Air Mail Act of 1934. Woolman secured a low-bid contract for the new Route 33 airmail service between Dallas and Charleston, South Carolina, via Atlanta. In August of that same year Delta resumed passenger services, flying used Stinson "T" Trimotors.It also acquired Lockheed Electra Model 10B in 1936.
On December 24, 1940, the first Delta DC-3 to carry passengers took to the skies on a revenue flight for the first time. It served Delta until 1958. In 1941, Delta moved its headquarters from Monroe to Atlanta. The airline also introduced the DC2 during the 1940's. Until 1941, Delta's network was an unbranched string of twelve cities from Fort Worth to Charleston SC. That December it scheduled ten departures a day at Atlanta: three to Ft Worth, one to Birmingham and two each to Cincinnati, Charleston and Savannah. Those ten flights and their returns were Delta's whole schedule.
In 1943, Delta added New Orleans and in 1945 Chicago and Miami. By the end of the 1940's Delta also added the DC-4 and the DC-6 as demand picked up and it was necessary to deploy bigger airplanes. Delta purchased Chicago and Southern Air Lines in 1953 and flew under the name Delta C&S for the next two years and it added Delta's first international route, New Orleans to Caracas via Havana. Due to this acquisition it incorporated the The Lockheed Constellation ("Connie") into its fleet. The more advanced DC-7 was introduced in 1954, giving more reach to its network, expanding to Washington DC and New York in 1956.
Delta added jet airliners to its fleet in the 1960s; the Douglas DC-8 entered service in September 1959. Delta's new red, white, and blue triangle logo ("widget") on their aircraft represented the jet's swept wing, as well as the Greek letter delta. Convair 880s were added in 1960 (they set a coast-to-coast record). In 1965 Delta becomes first airline to launch Douglas DC-9 service as introduces more and more jets into it's fleet.
Delta became an all-jet airline in 1970. The airline purchased Northeast Airlines in 1972. Delta Purchased some Boeing 747-100s but were later sold to China Airlines in favour of the Lockheed L-1011, which arrived in 1973. Also in 1972, it began operating with Boeing 727 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Delta launched its cargo service Delta Air Express in 1975.
Delta launched its first frequent flyer program in 1981 which became the SkyMiles program in 1995. In December 1982, Delta took delivery of its first 767-200, 1983 saw the arrival of the Boeing 737 and in December 1984 it received it’s first Boeing 757. The McDonnell Douglas MD-88 was introduced in 1985, it become another important backbone of the airline and has had 89 aircraft operating up to one time. In 1987, Delta merged with Western Airlines.
In 1990, Delta became the first U.S. airline to operate the McDonnell Douglas MD-11 aircraft, it arrived in 1991. Delta expanded dramatically by purchasing most of Pan Am's European routes after Pan Am declared bankruptcy in 1991. On September 1, 1991, Delta acquired Pan Am's East Coast and European routes including intra-European routes from the Frankfurt hub, and assumed a controlling interest in the remainder of Pan Am, which continued to operate routes from Miami to London, Paris and Latin America.
Although Delta initially promised further equity injections to keep Pan Am afloat, it refused to do so only a month later, which forced Pan Am to cease operations on December. United Airlines purchased the remaining assets of Pan Am a few days later, including transatlantic routes from Miami.
The Pan Am transaction gave Delta the largest transatlantic route network among U.S. airlines. Because of these acquisitions, Delta became and remains the largest U.S. transatlantic carrier, in terms of passengers carried and number of flights operated. The ex-Pan Am routes acquired by Delta included Detroit to London, which it made the airline fight for in courts, after blockades by other airlines. During the first years of integrating the Pan Am aircraft, in 1992 saw the introduction of the first Airbus aircraft to fly the Delta colours in the shape of the A310.
Throughout the 1990s, Delta maintained a secondary hub at Portland for its Asia operations. Today, all Asia operations from Portland and Los Angeles have ceased (except for Portland-Tokyo and Los Angeles-Tokyo). In 1998, Delta and United Airlines introduced a marketing partnership that included a reciprocal redemption agreement between SkyMiles and Mileage Plus programs and shared lounges. Delta and United attempted to introduce an even closer codeshare agreement, but this was deal was effectively killed by The Airline Pilots Association. In 1995 Delta received the first of the new advanced McDonnell Douglas MD-90, which it was the launch customer for the type, it went on for domestic flights. Then in 1999 it received the first wide bodied Boeing 777-200 for long haul operations.
In 2000, Delta partnered with AeroMéxico, Air France, and Korean Air to form SkyTeam, a global alliance. Three years later, Delta began the largest domestic codeshare alliance with Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines. 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. Delta's entire active fleet was then composed of twinjets. The airline was at the time the world's largest operator of 767 aircraft. The last L-1011 was retired on July 31, 2001. The final flight operated as Flight 1949 from Orlando to Atlanta. The Lockheed L-1011's were replaced with the Boeing 767-400.
In the year 2000 the airline also adapted a new logo and colours, "Colours in Motion" livery with a Red, dark and light blue flowing colours on the tail and Delta logo on the front fuselage. Nicknamed "Flowing Fabric" and "Wavy Gravy."
In 2001 the U.S. airspace was closed for two days after terrorist attacks on Sept. 11th. Delta posts first financial loss in six years. In 2005: "Operation Clockwork" is the largest single-day schedule redesign in aviation history. Changes at Atlanta and Dallas/Ft. Worth restructure more than 51 percent of Delta’s network for better ontime departures, reduced airport congestion and free up aircraft for Delta's expanding route system. The airline's many Boeing 727s were completely replaced with Boeing 737-800s in 2003. Delta operated its last MD-11 flight on January 1, 2004, operating as Flight 56 from Narita International Airport to Atlanta. This concluded the MD-11s relatively short service in the fleet. MD-11 aircraft have been replaced with Boeing 777-200ERs.
As early as 2004, in an effort to avoid bankruptcy, Delta began restructuring the company, which included job cuts and an aggressive 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. On August 15, 2005, Delta finalized a deal to sell Delta Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines to SkyWest Airlines in an effort to obtain money to avoid bankruptcy.
On Sept. 14 2005, Delta files for reorganisation under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. In November, Delta starts one of the largest one-month expansions in its history with service on seven new Latin American and Caribbean routes. In December 2005, Delta cut 26% of its flights at its Cincinnati hub and redeployed the aircraft to its hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City. In December 2005, the Delta pilots agreed to an additional temporary 14% cut in pay, piggybacking onto the 32.5% taken at the beginning of 2005. This cut was made permanent with the ratification of an agreement in June 2006. Additionally, the company planned to lay off between 7,000 and 9,000 of its 52,000 employees.
Delta launches first service to southern Africa in 2006 with flights between Atlanta and Johannesburg via Dakar, Senegal. Based on all of these initiatives, Delta projected a return to profitability by late 2007, based on a crude oil price model of $66 per barrel, in contrast to other bankrupt carriers' restructuring modelled on $55 per barrel. Delta would eventually reach this goal of full year profitability in 2007.
Starting in 2007, Delta began offering on-demand programming on all flights longer than four hours at its main hubs in New York City, Salt Lake City, and Atlanta. Delta also installed an improved in-flight entertainment system on internationally configured aircraft, featuring a personal selection of movies. The system was installed in all classes on Boeing 767-400ER and 777-200ER aircraft, and in the Business Elite section on Boeing 767-300ER aircraft.
On December 19, 2006, Delta rejected US Airways Group's proposed merger. The airline also launched a media campaign against the merger to raise public support. The campaign, "Keep Delta My Delta". On January 31, 2007, Delta's creditors rejected US Airways' hostile takeover attempt, and US Airways withdrew its offer to buy Delta. On the same day, executives and employees of the company gathered to celebrate the re-lighting of the historic "FLY DELTA JETS" sign at the company's main hub, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport .
On April 25, 2007, the airline's bankruptcy plan was approved by the bankruptcy court. On April 30, 2007, Delta Air Lines emerged from bankruptcy protection as an independent carrier. Delta also unveiled a new logo, reminiscent of its logo from the 1970s and 1980s, and a new paint scheme. The new livery consists of four colours, while the old one (called "colours in motion") used eight.
Upon exiting bankruptcy, Delta increased operations at Los Angeles International Airport by 50%, thus establishing Los Angeles as Delta's second West Coast hub and new potential Asian gateway with a total of 99 daily departures.
It then announced on 14 April 2008 it was to merge with Northwest Airlines. It was set to create the world's largest airline. After approval of the merger on October 29, 2008, Northwest continued to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta until December 31, 2009, when both carriers' operating certificates were merged (only Delta’s certificate was kept). Delta completed integration with Northwest on January 31, 2010, when their reservation systems and websites combined. Northwest Airlines brand was then officially retired. All of Northwest's aircraft were eventually repainted in Delta's livery. Northwest's three US hubs were rebranded and gates have been consolidated along with other US airports.
From April 2008 to December 2009 Delta took over all the aircraft previously operated by Northwest Airlines. This included to re-introduce DC-9's, Airbus A319, A320 for short haul operations and Airbus A330-200/300, Boeing "jumbo" 747-400 and B757-300 for long haul flights.
In early 2011, Delta began talks with Airbus, Boeing and Bombardier to discuss replacing the McDonnell Douglas DC-9s, MD-88s, and older A320 and 757-200 aircraft. On August 22, 2011, Delta placed an order for 100 Boeing 737- 900ER aircraft. Delta agreed in 2012 to lease 88 Boeing 717s acquired by Southwest Airlines during their acquisition of AirTran Airways.
On August 1, 2014, Delta announced they would begin to retire their aging Boeing 747- 400 fleet, which Delta acquired as part of the Northwest merger. It was announced that they would be retired by the end of 2017. On November 20, 2014, the airline announced an order for 25 Airbus A350-900 and 25 Airbus A330-900 aircraft to replace the 747, as well as some aging 767s.
In 2015 the airline entered a partnership with China Eastern Airlines in which Delta will buy a 3.55% share in China Eastern. During 2016, Delta started to receive its new Airbus narrow body aircraft, the A320 and A321, replaced older types and used on domestic services.
Delta received its first A350 in July 2017 and put it into service to Tokyo and other Asian destinations. On December 14, 2017, Delta ordered 100 Airbus A321neos, to be delivered from 2020, they will replace the airline's aging Boeing 757-200s, MD-88s and MD-90s.
In October 2018, Delta Air Lines received their first Airbus A220-100, in an order of 75 jets. Delta has become one of the "BIG 3" airlines in the USA and continues to improve it's services with better customer service, upgraded products for all it's classes of service, on board Wi-Fi and new orders for Boeing and Airbus latest aircraft to remain competitive, at the front of the market as a global player, which is here to stay for a long time through the American aviation history.
History source: Wikipedia.org + Delta.com
Operations and Destinations 🌍:
Delta flies to 304 destinations in 34 countries across the world. Delta's main hubs are located in the USA, with Atlanta being the HQ of the company. Airline passenger operation hubs are also located in Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Detroit, Minneapolis, Seattle and both New York JFK and La Guardia. In addition to their eight hubs, Delta also operates three smaller focus cities; Boston, Cincinnati and Raleigh-Durham. These focus cities primarily cater to local passengers originating and terminating in the respective cities rather than connecting traffic.
It also has international hubs in Paris and Amsterdam thanks to the close cooperation between other Skyteam members. Finally it operates a small hub at Tokyo Narita airport. Regional services are operated under the brand name Delta Connection. (flown by Compass Airlines, Endeavor Air, ExpressJet, GoJet Airlines, Republic Airline and SkyWest Airlines), all are subsidiaries of Delta or partners and operate in Delta Connection brand.
Delta Airlines has an impressive list of destinations. The table below does not include cities served by Delta Connection. Please refer to the Delta Connection table below.
Region 🗺️ | Destinations 🌍🌎🌏 |
---|---|
✈USA (Domestic) | Akron, Albany, Albuquerque, Allentown, Anchorage, Appleton, Asheville, Atlanta, Augusta, Austin, Baltimore, Bangor, Baton Rouge, Billings, Birmingham, Bismarck, Boise, Boston, Bozeman, Bristol, Brunswick, Buffalo, Burlington, Charleston, Charlotte, Chattanooga, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colorado Springs, Columbia, Columbus, Dallas, Dayton, Daytona Beach, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, El Paso, Evansville, Fairbanks, Fargo, Fayetteville, Flint, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Fort Walton Beach, Fort Wayne, Gainesville, Grand Rapids, Great Falls, Green Bay, Greensboro, Greenville, Gulfport, Harlingen, Harrisburg, Hartford, Hayden, Honolulu, Houston, Houston, Huntsville, Idaho Falls, Indianapolis, Jackson, Jackson Hole, Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Juneau, Kahului, Kalispell, Kansas City, Key West, Knoxville, Kona, Lansing, Las Vegas, Lexington, Lihue, Little Rock, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Louisville, Madison, Manchester, Melbourne, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Minot, Missoula, Mobile, Montrose, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, New Orleans, New York City (JFK, LGA), Newark, Newport News, Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario, Orlando, Palm Springs, Panama City, Pasco, Pensacola, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Portland, Providence, Raleigh, Rapid City, Reno, Richmond, Roanoke, Rochester, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Sarasota, Savannah, Seattle, Sioux Falls, South Bend, Spokane, Springfield, St. Louis, St. Petersburg, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Tampa, Toledo, Traverse City, Tucson, Tulsa, Vail, Washington, D.C., Washington, D.C., West Palm Beach, White Plains, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre |
✈Canada, the Caribbean and Central America | Belize City, Calgary, Cancún, Cozumel, Edmonton, Freeport, Grand Cayman, Guadalajara, Guatemala City, Hamilton, Havana, Ixtapa, Kingston, Koror, Kralendijk, Liberia, Managua, Mazatlán, Mexico City, Montego Bay, Monterrey, Montreal, Nassau, Oranjestad, Panama City, Philipsburg, Port-au-Prince, Providenciales, Puerto Vallarta, Punta Cana, Quito, Roatán, Saint Kitts, Saint Thomas, San José, San José del Cabo, San Juan, San Pedro Sula, San Salvador, Santiago de los Caballeros, Santo Domingo, Santo Domingo, St. George's, St. John's, Tegucigalpa, Toronto, Vancouver, Vieux-Fort |
✈South America | Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Cartagena, Lima, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago, São Paulo |
✈Asia | Beijing, Fukuoka, Manila, Mumbai, Nagoya, Osaka, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo (NRT, HND) |
✈Europe | Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Düsseldorf, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Glasgow, Hamburg, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Málaga, Milan, Munich, Nice, Paris, Ponta Delgada, Prague, Reykjavík, Rome, Shannon, Stuttgart, Venice, Zürich |
✈Africa and the Middle East | Accra, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos, Tel Aviv |
✈Australia | Sydney |
Delta Connection operates to the following destinations*:
Region 🗺️ | Destinations 🌍🌎🌏 |
---|---|
✈USA (Domestic) | Aberdeen, Akron/Canton, Albany, Albany, Albuquerque, Alexandria, Allentown, Alpena, Appleton/Fox Cities, Asheville, Aspen, Atlanta, Augusta, Austin, Baltimore (WAS), Bangor, Baton Rouge, Bemidji, Bentonville, Billings, Binghamton, Birmingham, Bismarck, Bloomington, Boise, Boston, Bozeman, Brainerd, Bristol, Brunswick, Buffalo/Niagara Falls, Burbank, Burlington, Butte, Casper, Cedar City, Cedar Rapids, Charleston, Charleston, Charlotte, Charlottesville, Chattanooga, Chicago (CHI)*, Cincinnati/Covington, Cleveland, Cody, Colorado Springs, Columbia, Columbus, Columbus, Columbus, Dallas, Dayton, Denver, Des Moines, Detroit, Dothan, Duluth, Elko, Elmira/Corning, Erie, Escanaba, Eugene, Evansville/Owensboro, Fairbanks, Fargo, Fayetteville/Fort Bragg, Flint, Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood, Fort Myers, Fort Smith, Fort Wayne, Fresno, Gainesville, Gillette, Grand Forks, Grand Junction, Grand Rapids, Great Falls, Green Bay, Greensboro/High Point, Greenville/Spartanburg, Gulfport/Biloxi, Harlingen, Harrisburg, Hartford/Springfield, Hayden, Helena, Houston, Huntsville/Decatur, Idaho Falls, Indianapolis, International Falls, Iron Mountain, Ithaca, Jackson, Jackson Hole, Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Kalamazoo, Kalispell, Kansas City, Key West, Killeen, Knoxville, La Crosse, Lafayette, Lansing, Las Vegas, Lewiston, Lexington, Lincoln, Little Rock, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Louisville, Madison, Manchester, Marquette, Medford, Melbourne, Memphis, Miami, Milwaukee, Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minot, Missoula, Mobile, Moline, Monroe, Montgomery, Myrtle Beach, Nashville, New Bern, New Orleans, New York City (NYC), Newark (NYC), Newburgh (NYC), Newport News, Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Ontario, Orlando, Palm Springs, Panama City, Pasco/Richland/Kennewick, Pellston, Peoria, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Pocatello, Portland, Portland, Providence, Raleigh/Durham, Rapid City, Redmond/Bend, Reno, Rhinelander, Richmond/Williamsburg, Roanoke, Rochester, Rochester, Sacramento, Saginaw, Salt Lake City, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Sarasota/Bradenton, Sault Ste. Marie, Savannah/Hilton Head, Seattle/Tacoma, Shreveport, Sioux Falls, South Bend, Spokane, Springfield/Branson, St. George, St. Louis, State College, Sun Valley, Syracuse, Tallahassee, Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater, Traverse City, Tucson, Tulsa, Twin Falls, Valdosta, Washington D.C. (WAS)*, Wausau, West Palm Beach, White Plains, Wichita, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Williston, Wilmington |
✈Canada and Mexico | Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City, Saskatoon, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg, Guadalajara, León/El Bajío, Mazatlán, Monterrey, Puerto Vallarta, San José del Cabo |
✈The Caribbean | Cayman Islands, Freeport, George Town, Grand Cayman, Marsh Harbour, Montego Bay, Nassau, North Eleuthera, Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands |
*Destination list is for reference only. Please check directly with the airline for updates.
*Note some destinations are only seasonal.*Correct info as of Nov 2018.
Fleet ✈️:
Delta operates a very large fleet of aircraft, totalling, as of November 2018, 880 aircraft manufactured by Airbus, Boeing, and McDonnell Douglas. Delta still operates the largest Boeing 717, B757, B767, McDonnell Douglas MD-88 and MD-90 fleets in the world. it also holds the title of the largest Airbus A330 fleet of any US airline.
The vast different aircraft types operating with Delta are the result of merging with other carriers throughout Delta's history.Currently it's ongoing a fleet modernisation programme and homogenisation to a more standard type around Boeing and Airbus products for all operations.
In addition, it's Regional arm, Delta Connection operates an additional 464 aircraft from both Embraer and Bombardier. The fleet* of Delta consists of:
Network 🌐 | Aircraft ✈️ |
---|---|
✈Regional (operated by Delta connect) | Embraer 175, E170. Bombardier CRJ-200, CRJ-700 CRJ-900 |
✈Short and Medium Haul (domestic and international) | Airbus A220, A319, A320, A321, (A321neo from 2020), A330 (A330-900 from 2019). Boeing 717, B737-700/800/900ER, B757-200/300, B767-300. McDonnell Douglas MD-88, MD-90 (being phased out) |
✈Long haul | A330-200/300, A350. Boeing 767-300ER/400ER, B777-200ER/200LR |
*Correct fleet info as of Nov 2018.
Delta Airlines Photo Slide 📷:
Delta Safety Videos (B737-800 and B757-200) 🎬:
Reviews ⭐:
✅Member of the Skyteam Alliance for mileage redemption. | 👎Some aircraft are not updated with latest in-flight entertainment for long haul flights. |
✅ One of the biggest networks in America. Best airline to fly to Atlanta and connections. | 👎Old planes still in service (MD88, MD90, B757-200) which are due to be phased out in the coming years. |
✅ Good offers and fares. | |
✅Good customer service both at the airports and in the air. | |
✅Online check-in and seat selection (free of charge) | |
✅Meals and drinks provided on all flights (complimentary) |