Founded in 1924, Huff Daland Dusters crop dusting service originated in Macon, Georgia. Once moving to Monroe Louisiana in 1925, a small dusting company was taken over by former vice president C.E. Woolman and two associates. It was the beginning of what would become the world wide airline corporation Delta Airlines. The space of 82 years Delta has gone though many changes, both positive and negative. Delta has been a leader in commercial aviation since, time and time again, it has tried new corporate strategies and technology.
After the Huff Daland Dusters were converted into Delta Air Service in 1928, C.E. Woolman began serving as a passenger the following year between Dallas, Texas and Jackson, Mississippi. The S-6000B Air Travel was small featuring room for five passengers and one pilot. Things began to move quickly for Delta Air itself. After a few name changes, the Delta Air Lines airline was operated starting in 1934 after winning a contract from the United States. Postal States. After moving its headquarters to Atlanta, Delta made the first of many mergers. It was 1953 when Delta acquired routes in the Midwest and South, bus with Chicago and Southern Airlines (MSN Encarta Standard).
This initial merger led to several decades. A 1972 merger led to Delta and Northern Airlines, a major carrier based in New York and Boston. This gave Delta direct routes from the Northeast and New York to Florida. The Delta is expanding rapidly. When Delta merged with Western Airlines in 1987, Delta became the fourth largest carrier in the United States and the fifth largest carrier worldwide (Delta.com). At this time Delta begins its first transpacific service; The service carried passengers from Atlanta to Portland Oregon and then to Tokyo. It started in 1991 for the major Pan-Am carriers. Delta took transatlantic flights as well as the Pan Am Shuttle. This was the largest flight comparison in airline history; Delta winning flights between United and Europe. Unfortunately, transatlantic voyages did not benefit due to fewer passengers, higher fuel costs and lower price competitors. This cost Delta more than 2 billion dollars from 1991-1994. Delta was hit hard by this merger, not surprisingly then Delta launched a massive layoff program in which tens of thousands of employees lost their jobs or outright layoffs, early retirement and attrition. After these sharp cuts, Delta profited again in 1995. Not long after the failed takeover of Pan Am, Delta merged with Swisscargo in 1998; by creating the first international trade association. (Delta.com)
Merers Airlines were common in the 1990s, which caused some trouble among the airline industry. The Journal of Administrative Studies viewed these mergers as follows:
In the 1990s, the number of companies in the airline industry grew every year, and the flying scene also became; Associations were broken up, new ones were formed very often, and members of one association left the group to join another. Such turbulence seemed to instill a sense of caution and perhaps fear, if not paranoia, into the way airlines discussed their alliances. Indeed, during the confederation frenzy of the late 1990s it was sometimes difficult to discern whether an airline was a competitor or a partner” (January 2004).
As mentioned earlier, Delta is an airline that has established numerous firsts. In 1925, before Delta became a crop dusting company, Huff Daland had the largest privately owned fleet in the world with eighteen airplanes. In 1935, with the Stinson model airplane (the first Delta airplane with two pilots), Delta offered the first night service. With brand new models being added to the Delta fleet each year, they are rapidly growing in size. The introduction of the Douglas DC-2 and DC-3 into service, Delta staffed the flight crew. Delta was the first airline with non-stop flights from Chicago to Miami (Delta.com). Many services in the airline industry have been established by Delta Air Lines; such as the commercial service that was established in 1948, the Douglas DC-8 jet in 1959 service and the Convair 880 jet service. These are just a few of the services and models Delta has developed. One of Delta’s record-breaking achievements was a flight from Los Angeles to Atlanta in less than three hours with a DC-8 commercial plane . Delta holds this record to this day.
While holding the number one spot, Delta has developed many technological advances in the aviation industry. In 1964 Delta introduced the Deltamatic Reservation System using IBM 7074 computers. A decade and a half later, Delta developed the Computer Reservation System (CRS). The 1980s was a great time for Delta to create software. Delta in Flyer-miles”>Flyer Miles (Sky Miles since 1995) in 1981 (Delta.com) To strengthen relations with the regional airlines, Delta developed the Delta Connections Program. At that time, the Airfone office was introduced. WORLDSPAN Travel Information services combined reservation systems TWA, Northern Airlines and Delta in 1990. With the rise of the Internet, Delta quickly broke into SkyLinks for online ticket purchases and reservations in 1996. This later became the Delta website, delta .com. That same year, Delta Express was introduced as a low-fare passenger service from Orlando, Florida. Other programs developed by Delta in Constantly competing for customer satisfaction.
Some of the first substantial changes to Delta were the creation of a center and speaker system that allowed flights to connect in between, the installation of Radar on all Delta aircraft of the early 1950s and the addition of automatic defibrillators to all systems. Delta aircrafts in 1998. They were also the first airline to voluntarily stop smoking on all flights in 1995.
Delta is not only known for numerous firsts in development and technology, but has received many honoring awards. In early 1945, Delta was awarded a National Security Council award for flying over 300 million miles and for ten years in flight without a single passenger or crew. Delta Airlines has received two National Safety Council Awards, the last in 1960. When founder C.E. Woolman passed away in 1966, a memorial 1925 Huff Daland Duster was displayed in his honor at the Smithsonian Institution in 1968. In 1996 J.D. The Power Award was given to Delta for its role as “the largest carrier for long- and short-haul flights” (Delta.com). Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine gave Delta recognition for “Best Managed Major Airline” and Air Transport magazine awarded Delta with Global Airline of the Year for 1998; then presented in 1999.
Some recognition of Delta Airlines has come from its extensive involvement in World War II and more recently the Desert Storm/Desert Shield conflict. In 1942 in World War II Delta aircraft change; overhauling engines and organs and training army pilots and mechanics. During the Desert Storm/Desert Mirror conflict, Delta was involved in the CRAF (Civil Air Response Fleet), along with twenty-three other civilian airlines. Delta and others were responsible for carrying military personnel and military cargo.
Another notable contribution made by Delta involved the Olympics; first as the official airline of the centennial Olympics in 1996, then as the carrier of the Olympic flame from Athens, Greece to Atlanta, Georgia in 2002 and later a sponsor of the Winter Olympics in 2002, after financial difficulties, after taking over most of Pan Am, Delta was a viable competitor in commercial aviation. Then only after the September 11th attacks did Delta join the commercial airline’s financial problems. The attack on the World Trade Center in 2001 caused several airlines to go out of business, but Delta survived. The appointment was made by the Vice President of Delta Airlines, Inc. in 2002, he gave an account of Delta’s financial status before the National Commission at the Chicago Field Hearing. Mr. Scott Yohe states:
Last year, US airlines collectively lost $7.7 billion, despite a federal emergency package enacted by Congress to prevent the industry from shutting down in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. Delta alone reported a financial loss of $1 billion in 2001. The entire relief package covered just a few short weeks of massive losses that continue to sustain the airline. (4)
After the first part of the year in 2002, the industry reported an additional loss of 2.4 billion dollars. A major cause of this economic crisis is the enormous cost of complying with the waves of new taxes, government mandates and other new costs that have been imposed on air travel since September 11 (4).
As of 2004, even with the economic rebound, Delta found a tough competition with low-cost passengers. After Hurricane Katrina damaged much of the Delta’s outstanding oil rigs, the cost of jet fuel was met with a rise. Then it was “September and Delta and North filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection” (Yohe 2002). Delta, as in the past, has its own strategy of survival; new programs, customer discounts and new technologies are tested and used to make Delta “one of the largest companies in the world” (MSN Encarta standard).
Delta has grown from crop dusting to a major provider of commercial air travel. In addition to customer benefits, Delta offers excellent services and various programs. Delta Airlines’ history proves its dedication to both American and customers around the world.
Works Cited
“Delta Air Lines, Inc.” Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 Adelphia. 12 September 2006. Path: Research: History of Delta Air Lines. “Delta Through the Decades.” Delta September 11, 2006 Klinecht, James, et al. “Line Operation Safety Audits (LOSA): Definition and Operating Characteristics.” 12th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology (2003) 12 September 2006 Vaara, Eero., et al. “Discursive Constructions: The Case of Alliance Airlines” Journal of Management Studies 41:1 (2004).11 September 2006 Yohe, D.S., “National Commission to Manage Consumer Information and Choice in the Airline Industry” Chicago Field Hearing (June 26, 2002) September 12, 2006
Report:
- “Delta Airlines, Inc.”; Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 Adelphia. 12 September 2006. Path: Research: History of Delta Air Line.”Delta Through < a href="http://http://decades.&rdquo/" rel="nofollow">Decades.”; Delta September 11, 2006 Klinect, James, et al. “Line Operation Safety Audits (LOSA): Definition and Operation Characteristics.”; 12th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology (2003) September 12, 2006 Vaara, Eero., et al. “Constructing discursive strategies: The case of Alliance Airlines” Journal of Management Studies 41:1 (2004).11 September 2006 Yohe, D.S., “National Commission on Consumer Information and Choices in the Airline Industry” Chicago Field Hearing (June 26, 2002) September 12, 2006 <www.astanet.com/govaffairs/docs/YoheTestimony.pdf
