Early history The history of Delta Air Lines began with the world's first aerial crop dusting operation called
Huff Daland Dusters, Inc. The company was founded on March 2, 1925, in
Macon, Georgia, before moving to
Monroe, Louisiana, in the summer of 1925. It flew a Huff-Daland Duster, the first true crop duster, designed to combat the
boll weevil infestation of cotton crops. The first flight operated by Huff Daland Dusters departed from the airfield at
Camp Wheeler, now
Macon Downtown Airport, on March 23, 1925 to dust a peach orchard in
Montezuma, Georgia.
C.E. Woolman, general manager and later Delta's first CEO, led a group of local investors to acquire the company's assets. Delta Air Service was incorporated on December 3, 1928, and was named after the
Mississippi Delta region. Passenger operations began on June 17, 1929, from
Dallas, Texas, to
Jackson, Mississippi, with stops at
Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana. By June 1930, service had extended east to
Atlanta and west to
Fort Worth, Texas. Passenger service ceased in October 1930 when the airmail contract for the route Delta had pioneered was awarded to another airline, which purchased the assets of Delta Air Service. Local banker Travis Oliver, acting as a trustee, C.E. Woolman, and other local investors purchased back the crop-dusting assets of Delta Air Service and incorporated as Delta Air Corporation on December 31, 1930. Delta Air Corporation secured an airmail contract in 1934, and began doing business as Delta Air Lines over Mail Route 24, stretching from Fort Worth, Texas, to Charleston, South Carolina. The company name officially became Delta Air Lines in 1945. In 1946, the company commenced regularly scheduled
freight transport. In 1949, the company launched the first discounted fares between
Chicago and
Miami. In 1953, the company launched its first international routes after the acquisition of
Chicago and Southern Air Lines. In 1959, it was the first airline to fly the
Douglas DC-8. In 1960, it was the first airline to fly
Convair 880 jets. In 1964, it launched the Deltamatic reservation systems using computers in the
IBM 7070 series. In 1965, Delta was the first airline to fly the
McDonnell Douglas DC-9.
Growth and acquisitions By 1970, Delta had an all-jet fleet, and in 1972 it acquired
Northeast Airlines. Trans-Atlantic service began in 1978 with the first nonstop flights from Atlanta to
London. In 1981, Delta launched a
frequent-flyer program. In 1987, it acquired
Western Airlines, and that same year Delta began trans-Pacific service (Atlanta to Portland, Oregon, to Tokyo). In 1990, Delta was the first airline in the United States to fly
McDonnell Douglas MD-11 jets. In 1991, it acquired substantially all of
Pan Am's trans-Atlantic routes and the Pan Am Shuttle, rebranded as the
Delta Shuttle. Delta was now the leading airline across the Atlantic. In 1997, Delta was the first airline to board more than 100 million passengers in a calendar year. Also that year, Delta began an expansion of its international routes into
Latin America. In 2003, the company launched
Song, a
low-cost carrier. It emerged from bankruptcy in April 2007 after fending off a
hostile takeover from
US Airways and its shares were re-listed on the
New York Stock Exchange.
Acquisition of Northwest Airlines (2008–2010) The acquisition of
Northwest Airlines was announced on April 14, 2008. It was approved and consummated on October 29, 2008. Northwest continued to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta until December 31, 2009, when the Northwest Airlines operating certificate was merged into that of Delta. Delta completed integration with Northwest on January 31, 2010, when their
computer reservations system and websites were combined, and the Northwest Airlines brand was officially retired. ==Network==