Delta Air Lines
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Missing image Delta_logo.gif Delta Air Lines Logo Missing image 767-400_N839MH.jpg Delta Air Lines 767-400ER. Missing image Deltalax.jpg Delta Boeing 757-232 at LAX in August 2003. |
Delta Air Lines Template:Nyse Template:Airline codes is a major U.S. airline headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, operating a large domestic and international network that spans North America, South America, Europe, and Asia.
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. Its major international gateways are Atlanta, Cincinnati, and (most recently) 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) As of March 1, 2005, Delta and its subsidiaries served 219 destinations in 46 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as 53 international destinations in 35 countries. Delta has a marketing alliance with both Continental Airlines and Northwest Airlines and is a founding member of, and the second largest carrier in, the SkyTeam international alliance.
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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, "no-frills" service on some of its leisure dominated routes on April 15, 2003.
Separate regional airlines operate feeder flights, under code share agreements, primarily to Delta hub cities under the Delta Connection banner. These airlines include wholly-owned subsidiaries Comair, and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, as well as independent carriers Chautauqua Airlines, SkyWest, and American Eagle.
Of all major U.S. airlines, Delta is the least unionized. At December 31, 2003, Delta had a total of approximately 70,600 full-time equivalent employees, of which only approximately 18% were represented by unions.
Delta awards the annual Delta Prize for Global Understanding in conjunction with the University of Georgia.
History
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The company has its roots in Huff Daland Dusters, which was founded in 1924 in Macon, Georgia but moved to Monroe, Louisiana the following year. In 1928, Huff Daland Dusters was purchased and renamed 'Delta Air Services', where its route connected Dallas, Texas to Jackson, Mississippi, via Shreveport, Louisiana and Monroe. 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.
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. 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 both the DC-8 and DC-9 jets.
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 TriStar aircraft: Frankfurt was added the following year.
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.
Delta was the first 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, shortly before Pan Am declared bankruptcy. The purchase gave Delta the largest transatlantic route network through most of the 1990s and a small group of A310 aircraft that were retired after a few years.
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
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 (http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/channel_aviationdaily_story.jsp?id=news/del09154.xml), 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 (http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&news_id=dji-00078120050217&feed=dji&date=20050217&cat=INDUSTRY)) states that Delta's CFO Michael Palumbo aims to drop the 737-200, 737-300, and 767-200. The fourth type is currently undecided, being either the MD-80 or MD-90. Replacement aircraft are currently unknown, although it is expected that the MD-80 or MD-90 will be replaced by a 737 family aircraft, probably the 737-800.
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. On January 5, 2005, 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. Delta closed its hub at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on January 31.
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 Continental Airlines.
Disasters
On the morning 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 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.
Delta Air Lines 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 has abolished three-class seating, replacing both first and business class on intercontinental flights with a single premium class called "BusinessElite."
| Type | Number | Orders | Options | Rolling Options | Total # of seats | Cargo capacity | Engine Model | Audio/Video |
| Boeing 737-232 | 52 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 850 ft³ (24 m³) | Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15A | No |
| Boeing 737-332 | 26 | 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 | 61 | 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 | 15 | 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 | 6 | 204 | 3,770 ft³ (107 m³) | GE CF6-80C2B6F / Pratt & Whitney PW4060 | Yes |
| Boeing 767-432ER | 21 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 285 | 4,580 ft³ (130 m³) | GE CF6-80C2B7F | Yes |
| Boeing 777-232 | 8 | 5 | 20 | 5 | 268 | 5,656 ft³ (160 m³) | Rolls-Royce Trent 892 | Yes |
| Type | Year Retired | Replacement | Engine Model | Audio/Video |
| Douglas DC-8 | ??? | Boeing 757-232 | ??? | ??? |
| Convair CV-880 | ??? | ??? | ??? | ??? |
| Douglas DC-9-10 | ??? | ??? | Pratt & Whitney JT8D-5 | No |
| Douglas DC-9-30 | ??? | McDonnell Douglas / Boeing MD-80 | Pratt & Whitney JT8D series | No |
| Boeing 747-132 | ??? | None | ??? | ??? |
| Airbus A310 | 1990s | None | ??? | ??? |
| Lockheed L-1011 | 2001 | Boeing 767-432ER | Rolls-Royce RB211 series | Yes |
| Boeing 727-232 | 2002 | Boeing 737-832 and, partially, Boeing 757-232 | Pratt & Whitney JT8D series | No |
| McDonnell Douglas / Boeing MD-11 | 2003 | Boeing 777-232 | Pratt & Whitney PW4460 | Yes |
Destinations
See full article: Delta Air Lines destinations
| Members of the Skyteam Alliance |
| 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 |
| List of Aircraft | Aircraft Manufacturers | Aircraft Engines | Aircraft Engine Manufacturers Airlines | Air Forces | Aircraft Weapons | Missiles | Timeline of aviation |
External links
- Delta Air Lines (http://www.delta.com/)
- Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum (http://www.deltamuseum.org/)
- Sky (http://www.delta-sky.com/), Delta's inflight magazinede:Delta Air Lines