Delta Air Lines

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Delta Air Lines
IATA
DL
ICAO
DAL
Callsign
Delta
Founded 1928
Hubs H.-J. Atlanta Int'l Airport
Cincinnati-N. KY Int'l Airport
Salt Lake City Int'l Airport
Focus cities/ secondary hubs John F. Kennedy Int'l Airport
LaGuardia Airport
Orlando International Airport
Los Angeles Int'l Airport
Logan International Airport
Frequent flyer program SkyMiles
Member lounge Crown Room Club
Alliance SkyTeam
Fleet size 535
Destinations 272
Parent company Delta Air Lines, Inc.
Headquarters Atlanta, Georgia
Key people Gerald Grinstein (CEO), Edward Bastian (CFO)
Website www.delta.com

Delta Air Lines (OTC Pink Sheets: DALRQ) (IATA: DL, ICAO: DAL, and Callsign: Delta) is a major U.S. airline headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, operating a large domestic and international network that spans North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean.

Delta operates hubs at Atlanta, Cincinnati, and Salt Lake City. Delta also has large operations in many other cities, including Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, and Washington, D.C. Delta is also the leading carrier in Florida. Its major international gateways are Atlanta, Cincinnati, and New York-JFK. In early 2005, Delta closed its Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport hub.

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) As of September 1, 2005, Delta (including its wholly owned subsidiary, Comair, Inc.) served 178 domestic cities in 46 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as 58 international cities in 35 countries. Delta mainline, domestic and international service, Song®, Delta Shuttle®, Delta Connection®, Delta SkyTeam®, and Worldwide Partners operate 7,587 flights each day to over 502 cities in 88 countries.

Contents

Business structure

Delta Air Lines, Inc. is incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware. As of January, 2004, Gerald Grinstein is the Chief Executive Officer.

Delta operates several airline brands. The "mainline" Delta brand serves primarily long-haul, high-volume flights and most international services. Short-haul, high frequency service between Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C., are operated in a single-class configuration under the Delta Shuttle brand. The Delta brand Song began single-class service on April 15, 2003. The service was created by Delta to compete directly against jetBlue. Songs branding has proven successful in the Northeast-Florida market where it is seen as a "chic" alternative to its mainline brand, placing live satalite tv's at each seat, buy-on-board gourmet meals, and martini's prepared right at your seat.

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), SkyWest (a subsidiary of SkyWest, Inc.), Atlantic Southeast Airlines which was recently acquired by SkyWest, Inc. (formerly a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta), and Freedom Airways (a subsidiary of Mesa Airlines). American Eagle which performs regional operations for American Airlines is also considered a Delta Connection Carrier on certain routes in Southern California, however American Eagle operates independently under its own banner codesharing with Delta.

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 only 18% were represented by unions.

Delta awards the annual Delta Prize for Global Understanding in conjunction with the University of Georgia.

History

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 aeril 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 'Delta Air Services' 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 became the launch operateor of the DC-8, which began service in 1959, and the Convair CV-880 in 1960. The DC-8's gracefull 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.

Delta purchased Northeast Airlines in 1972 to strengthen its market share in the northeastern United States. Through the purchase, Delta begins its long 727 operation. In 1970, Delta entered the "wide-body" jet era with a purchase of five Boeing 747's to service its new long-haul high density routes. However, Delta did not have any need for them and sold them a few years later. Shorty after, 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. In 1973 the TriStar entered service for Delta. In 1978, Delta began flying from Atlanta to London with new Lockheed L-1011 TriStar aircraft: Frankfurt was added the following year. Delta's fast growth showed well 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." [1] The airplane remains the flagship of the Delta fleet, and was repainted in a commemorative paint scheme and toured the country to celebrate the airline's 75th anniversary in 2004. [2]

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 (PHNL} with L-1011 aircraft. Through more inovations and focus on customer service, Delta offers nation's first public air-to-ground telephone system with Airfone, on the L-1011.

Delta was named official airline to Walt Disney World in 1985. Their official ride in the Magic Kingdom was Delta Dreamflight. 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. Through these aquisitions and expansions Delta becomes the fourth largest U.S. carrier and fifth largest world carrier.

Delta was the first U.S. airline to operate the MD-11 aircraft in 1990. Delta's most dramatic expansion came with its purchase of Pan American'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. Even today, Delta is considered the leading U.S. carrier across the Atlantic in terms of pasengers carried and number of flights operated. Delta also aquired Pan Am's northeastern shuttle where they also took delivery of a number of Boeing 727's which was later replaced by 737-800's and 737-300's. 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.

In 2000, Delta made another big decision in the company's history by launching SkyTeam, a global alliance, partnering Delta with AeroMexico, Air France and Korean Air. Just three years later, Delta implements the largest domestic codeshare alliance with Continental and Northwest. SkyTeam becomes the second largest airline alliance in the world. Today, SkyTeam is made up of AeroMxico, Air France-KLM, Alitalia, Cotinental Airlines, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lnes, Korean Air Lines, and Northwest Airlines. Delta also has code-sharing agreements with 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, Horizon Air Industries, Mesaba, Northwest Airlines, and Pinnacle Airlines.


Delta was one of the airlines targeted in the failed Operation Bojinka plot: the conspirators planned to bomb a Delta MD-11 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.

Current restructuring

Image:Current event marker.png This article documents a current event.
Information may change rapidly as the event progresses.

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 (being replaced by the Boeing 777-200), with Delta having retired the other three-engined aircraft, the Boeing 727 (replaced by the Boeing 737-800) in 2003, and the Lockheed L-1011 (replaced by the Boeing 767-400) in 2001. Its entire active fleet is now comprised of twinjets. Delta had 14 MD-11's at the time of the aircraft's retirement. On September 23, 2004, a Delta spokesperson confirmed plans to sell eight MD-11s to FedEx.

As part of Delta's transformation plan, they are planning to retire four aircraft types. According to a report by Aviation Daily, Delta is planning to retire their 737-200, 737-300, 767-200, and MD-90 fleet. A more recent report by Dow Jones Newswires (article at iWon Money) states that Delta's previous CFO Michael Palumbo aims to drop the 737-200, 737-300, and 767-200. The fourth type is currently 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 737 family aircraft, probably the 737-800. In August 2005, Delta announced the 737s 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 made a deal with Ohio based ABX Air Inc. to purchase 11 Boeing 767-200 aircraft along with the one they bought in July 2005. The 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 also announced that it plans on keeping the Spirit of Delta which was the first 767-200 bought by the airline's employees. They plan on donating the plane to the Delta Heritage Museum. The two remaining 767's will be sent to the same location where the majority of the company's L-1011's are located.

In 2004, in an effort to avoid bankruptcy, Delta announced a restructuring of the company that included job cuts as well as turnaround 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. Delta closed its hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on January 31st 2005.

SimpliFares On January 5, 2005, through SimpliFares, the company revamped its fare structure, cutting its most expensive fares by as much as 50 percent nationwide and capping one-way domestic fares at $499 in coach class and $599 first class. They also launched a system of "same-day confirmed" where for $25, a passengers may get a confirmed seat on a different flight instead of standing by. 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.

In 2005, Delta applied to serve a daily non-stop flight from Atlanta to Beijing, China starting in March 2006, but slots were given 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. It is said that the move was a desperate one on Delta's behalf because many analysts have estimated ASA's worth at around $700-$800 million, which SkyWest would not have been able to afford.

On September 7, 2005, Delta announced that it would cut 26% of its flights at its Cincinnati hub and move many of the cut flights to its hubs in Atlanta and Salt Lake City. The move may eliminate up to 1000 jobs as a result of the capacity cuts in Cincinnati. They also announced further international expansion into Europe and Latin America as these routes are more profitable. The move is also expected to free up needed aircraft to fly these new routes and routes affected by the retirement of the 737 classics, the MD-90's out of SLC and the 767-200.

On September 14, 2005, Delta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York for the first time in its 76 year history. The Delta board of directors unanimously voted to file for protection which they see would be in the company's best interest. The company cites high labor costs and record breaking jet fuel prices as factors in its filing. To date, Delta is $20.5 billion in debt, $10 billion of which was accumilated since January 2001. It is also suspected that Delta may look to merge with Northwest Airlines seeing as they have filed for bankruptcy on the same day and talks were going around for months about the two airline's possible mergers. A flaw in such merger is that Delta and Northwest operate entirely dissimilar fleets.

On September 22, 2005, the company announced the acceleration of restructuring activites and projected savings from the bankruptcy process with a target of an additional $3 billion per year by 2007. This comes in part from debt relief, lease and facility savings and fleet modifications which will account for $970 million and with layoffs of between 7000 to 9000 of Delta's 52,000 employees. Management salaries will be reduced by a minimum of 9% across the board, with a 15% reduction for executive officer and a 25% pay cut for CEO Gerald Grinstein. The company also plans to alter its network structure by "right-sizing" hubs and increasing point-to-point routes. It plans to reduce domestic capacity by up to 20% while growing the more profitable international route capacity up to 25%. Based on these new inititaves, Delta projects being a profitable company within two years even if oil levels were at $66 per barrel in contrast to other major carrier's restructuiring centered around $55 per barrel.

In late 2005, Delta Air Lines annouced that a large part of it's turn around plan would be to increase international flights while decreasing domestic capacity. On October 18, 2005, Delta unvailed its final plans for such a turnaround. They officially announced at the Delta Landside in Atlanta, Georgia, it's largest international expansion in the company's history. This is not limited to European flights but also Latin American and Caribbean expansions. They re-ephasived its routes that began earlier this year which included JFK-Moscow, ATL-Moscow, ATL-Chenni, India via Paris, ATL-Saint Croix Virgin Islands and also major expansions into Mexico via Atlanta, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, and JFK. Delta also unvailed its latest expansions which include JFK-Budapest, Dublin/Shannon, Manchester, and also ATL-Athens, Edinburgh, Tel Aviv, Nice, Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Venice, and increased frequencies to many other cities around the world. These cities listed along with many others is said to increase Delta's international passenger traffic revenue from 22% of its total passenger revenues to more than 35% by 2007.

Advertising

Delta has had several different slogans throughout its history:

  • In 1940, Delta adopted the slogan: "Airline of the South".
  • In 1968, Delta adopted the slogan: "Delta is ready when you are".
  • In 1987, Delta adopted the slogan: "We love to fly, and it shows".
  • In 1995, Delta adopted the slogan: "You'll love the way we fly".
  • In 2005, Delta adopted the slogan: "Good Goes Around".

Incidents and Accidents

  • Note: This section is for major accidents only.

On the afternoon of August 2, 1985, Delta Air Lines Flight 191, on a Fort Lauderdale-Dallas/Fort Worth-Los Angeles route, crashed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, killing 133 of the 167 passengers and crew on board due to severe microburst induced wind shear. The crash would later become the subject of a television movie.

On August 31, 1988, Delta Air Lines Flight 1141, bound from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Salt Lake City International Airport, crashed after take-off due to improper configuration of flaps and leading edge slats.

Actual cockpit voice recorder for DL Flight 191: http://www.airdisaster.com/download2/dl191.shtml

Acutal cockpit voice recorder for DL Flight 1141: http://www.airdisaster.com/download2/dl1141.shtml

Destinations

See full article: Delta Air Lines destinations

Through pending and confirmed routes to Mexico, Central America, and South America, Delta expects a 124% growth in the Latin American market bringing them solidly to the #3 US carrier into Latin America.

Further expansions into European markets will also continue to secure Delta as the leading carrier across the Atlantic.


NEW ROUTES / FUTURE ROUTES


Nonstop from Atlanta, Georgia to:

OTHER CITIES

Boston to Cancun pending DOT approval

Cincinnati to Los Cabos pending DOT approval

Cincinnati to Cancun pending DOT approval

Los Angeles to Los Cabos pending DOT approval

Los Angeles to Cancun pending DOT approval

Los Angeles to Puerto Vallarta pending DOT approval

Los Angeles to Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo pending DOT approval

New York(JFK) to Los Cabos pending DOT approval

New York(JFK) to Kiev, Ukraine pending DOT approval

Orlando to Cancun pending DOT approval

Washington, D.C.(Dulles) to Cancun pending DOT approval

Boston to Nassau, Bahamas begining December 17, 2005

Los Angeles to Cozumel beginning March 5, 2006

New York(JFK) to Cancun beginning December 17, 2005

New York(JFK) to Budapest, Hungary beginning May 08, 2006

New York(JFK) to Dublin, Ireland beginning May 15, 2006

New York(JFK) to Shannon, Ireland (via Dublin) beginning May 15, 2006

New York(JFK) to Manchester, England beginning May 15, 2005

Salt Lake City to Puerto Vallarta beginning November 1, 2005

Salt Lake City to Kona, Hawaii beginning December 1, 2005

Salt Lake City to Hartford beginning December 1, 2005

Salt Lake City to Miami beginning December 18, 2005

Salt Lake City to Cozumel beginning March, 10 2006

Fleet

Delta operates an all-Boeing (including McDonnell Douglas aircaft) fleet. They do not operate any Airbus aircaft, nor do they have any on order. Delta's Boeing customer number is 32,i.e. 757-232, 737-832, 767-432.

Delta has abolished three-class seating, replacing both first and business class on international flights with a single premium class called "BusinessElite" on all of their Boeing 777-232ER aircraft and Boeing 767-332ER's, and soon to be featured on 8 of Delta's 21 767-432ER aircraft. First and economy class still exist on all other aircraft types.

Delta Air Lines Fleet (excluding Delta Connection)
Type Number Orders Options Rolling Options Total # of seats Cargo capacity Engine Model Audio/Video
Boeing 737-232 40 0 0 0 100 850 ft³ (24 m³) Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15A No
Boeing 737-332 21 0 0 0 128 850 ft³ (24 m³) CFM International CFM56-3B1 No
McDonnell Douglas / Boeing MD-88 120 0 0 0 142 1,253 ft³ (35.5 m³) Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 No
McDonnell Douglas / Boeing MD-90 16 0 0 0 150 1,300 ft³ (36.8 m³) International Aero V2525-D5 Yes
Boeing 737-832 71 51 60 168 150 1,555 ft³ (44.0 m³) CFM International CFM56-7B26 Yes
Boeing 757-232 121 0 0 0 183 1,670 ft³ (47.3 m³) Pratt & Whitney PW2037 Yes
Boeing 767-232 14 0 0 0 204 2,875 ft³ (81.4 m³) GE CF6-80A Yes
Boeing 767-332 28 0 0 0 252 3,770 ft³ (107 m³) GE CF6-80A2 Yes
Boeing 767-332ER 59 0 10 5 204 3,770 ft³ (107 m³) GE CF6-80C2B6F / Pratt & Whitney PW4060 Yes
Boeing 767-432ER 21 0 21 0 285 4,580 ft³ (130 m³) GE CF6-80C2B7F Yes
Boeing 777-232ER 8 5 20 5 268 5,656 ft³ (160 m³) Rolls-Royce Trent 892 Yes

For full and accurate list see http://www.delta.com/about_delta/corporate_information/delta_stats_facts/aircraft_fleet/index.jsp

Retired Jet Fleet

Type Year Retired Replacement Engine Model Audio/Video
Douglas DC-8 1988 Boeing 757-232 Pratt & Whitney JT3D-3B No
Convair CV-880 1973 Boeing 727-232 GE CJ-805-23 No
Douglas DC-9-10 1972 Douglas DC-9-30 Pratt & Whitney JT8D-5 No
Douglas DC-9-30 1992 McDonnell Douglas / Boeing MD-80 Pratt & Whitney JT8D series No
Boeing 727-95 1977 Boeing 727-232 Pratt & Whitney JT8D series No
Boeing 747-132 1976 Lockheed L-1011 Pratt & Whitney JT9D7A turbofans Yes
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 1988 Lockheed L-1011 / McDonnell Douglas MD-11 GE CF6-6D Yes
Airbus A310-200/300 1994-96 Boeing 767-332ER Pratt & Whitney JT9D series / Pratt & Whitney PW4152 Yes
Lockheed L-1011 2001 Boeing 767-432ER Rolls-Royce RB211 series Yes
Boeing 727-232 2003 Boeing 737-832 and, partially, Boeing 757-232 Pratt & Whitney JT8D series No
McDonnell Douglas / Boeing MD-11 2004 Boeing 777-232 Pratt & Whitney PW4460 Yes

Information on the Convair CV-880, Douglas DC-9-10, and McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 were found in archives at the Delta Heritage Museum in Atlanta, Georgia.

Delta Air Lines Fleet prior to the jet era

Up until the late 1960s, Delta Air Lines operated a fleet of propeller operated aircraft, including among others, the Convair 340, Convair 440, Curtiss C-46 Commando, Douglas DC-3, Douglas DC-4, Douglas DC-6, Douglas DC-7, Fairchild Hiller FH-227, Lockheed Constellation, and Lockheed L-100 Hercules. The Curtiss C-46 Commando and Lockheed L-100 Hercules aircraft were operated as cargo aircraft.


Members of the Skyteam Alliance Image:SkyTeam logo.jpg
Aeroméxico | Air France | Alitalia | Continental Airlines | CSA Czech Airlines | Delta Air Lines | KLM | Korean Air | Northwest Airlines
Future members: Air Europa | Aeroflot | China Southern Airlines | COPA | Kenya Airways | TAROM


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