DELTAAIR LINES: P. O. Box 20706, Atlanta International Airport, Hartsfield, Atlanta, Georgia 30320, United States; Phone (404) 7155876; Fax (404) 715-7202; Http://www. delta-air. com; Code DL; Year Founded 1929. In the fall of 1928, Collett Everman (C. E.) Woolman, returns to Monroe, Louisiana, from Peruvian Airways to find Huff-Daland Dusters in decay. He persuades a group of local investors to provide $40,000 backing with which to purchase the crop-dusting operation from Keystone Aircraft Corporation, a move executed on November 12. Three days later, the new purchase is chartered under the name— suggested in honor of the local Mississippi Delta area by secretary, later treasurer, Catherine Fitzgerald—Delta Air Service.
To get around the problem of unsuitable equipment posed by his Petrel 31 Dusters, Woolman, now general manager under President D. Y. Smith, purchases Fox Flying Service in early 1929, primarily for its two Travel Air 6000Bs cabin monoplanes and Stinson SM-1 Detroiter. One of the Travel Airs, piloted by Johnny Howe, is employed at 8 a. m. on June 17 to inaugurate a scheduled service from Dallas, Texas to Jackson, Mississippi, via Terrell, Longview, Marshall, Shreveport, Ruston, Monroe, Tallulah, and Vicksburg. A restored Travel Air will reenact the flight on the same day, 70 years later.
Despite the absence of a mail contract (the usual subsidy of airlines starting up during this period), the route is extended in both directions on September 1, Dallas-Fort Worth and Jackson-Birmingham. A third Travel Air is acquired later in the year.
Early in 1930, Woolman and officials of Eastern Air Transport discuss a plan to expand Delta flights to Atlanta and for EAT, assuming its ability to obtain a mail contract, to subcontract the Dallas mail run to Delta. Accordingly on June 18, the Birmingham terminus is extended on to the Georgia capital.
The mail contract is not, however, forthcoming, being awarded instead to American Airways on September 16. Without subsidy, Delta’s operation cannot be continued and thus its route is suspended on October 1 and the company’s nondusting aircraft are sold to Southern Air Fast Express (SAFEway). Delta returns to the crop-spraying work performed originally.
As a result of the new air mail regulations enacted into law in the Black-McKellar Act of 1934, Delta, reformed as Delta Air Corporation, places a bid in the spring for an airmail contract covering the route flown previously and receives the award for AM-24 on June 8. Without suitable aircraft, the renewed entrant, now using the marketing title Delta Air Lines, purchases a Curtiss 4C-2 Robin with which to survey its prospective route, in addition to six Stinson SM-6000B trimotors (at $5,400 each) from American Airlines on June 23.
Also acquired are two Stinson Model A trimotors, which are placed on the Dallas to Atlanta frequency on July 1. A Stinson SM-6000B initiates mail service on July 4, flying Dallas-Birmingham via Tyler, Shreveport, Monroe, Jackson, and Meridian. The Birmingham end is stretched to Atlanta on July 5 and to Charleston, South Carolina, via Augusta and Columbia, on July 7.
After a one-month probationary period, the Department of Commerce allows passenger enplanements to begin on August 4. Late in the year, sympathetic Monroe, Louisiana, banker and newspaperman Clarence E. Faulk purchases control of Delta, becomes president, and retains Wool-man as general manager.
The third new $34,000 Stinson Model A trimotor is purchased in late June 1935, and one of them begins night service on July 15.
Meanwhile, beginning July 2, Delta’s day routes are christened “Georgian” and “Texan” (depending on direction). On August 14, a Stinson Model A en route to Shreveport from Dallas literally loses its left engine when a propeller flange cuts through the fuselage and disables pilot Andy Dixon. With the plane ablaze, copilot Herbert Bulkely manages a controlled descent but crashes near Gilmer, Texas (four dead).
During the busy summer season, the carrier also operates two Lockheed Model 5C Vegas and a Model 8A Sirus, leased from Bowen Air Lines, as mailplanes while awaiting the fulfillment of an order for Model 10 Electras. The first Model 10Bs are delivered in late December. Although the Vegas are now returned, the Sirius must be written off following a crash at Birmingham on December 24.
A third Stinson Model A arrives on January 8, 1936, joining the two new Lockheeds in entering service late in the month. A third Electra arrives in February, allowing the company to begin an orderly retirement of the Stinsons, beginning with a Dash-6000B in June.
A second Model A is lost, this one during takeoff from Atlanta on August 27, leaving the pilot, Charles Dolson, with a broken back. Another Dash-6000B is sold in December.
Two more Electras join the fleet in January 1937, allowing the sale of a third Stinson SM-6000B, the Stearman C3B, and all of the remaining Model As in March.
Late in the decade, orders are placed for Douglas transports and until they begin to arrive, the company, in December 1939, leases a Model 10A Electra from Braniff Airways.
The first four Douglas products received are DC-2s obtained from American Airlines between February 4 and March 20, 1940. Readied, the initial unit is placed into service on March 15, carrying a fifth crew member, a registered nurse named Laura Wizark— Delta’s first flight attendant. That day, Braniff Airways’ Electra is returned.
When the new CAB now begins to provide “grandfathered” operating certificates for carriers at least six months old, Delta receives the first document.
Simultaneously, in an effort to allow the airline to participate in the economic development of its region, a number of new routes are permitted by the regulators, including a five-hour flight segment from Atlanta to Fort Worth. With most of Delta’s passengers on these new services having to pass through Atlanta, the Georgia city becomes the first “hub,” with its routes what will later be called “spokes.”
In need of additional capacity, during the summer the board of directors orders six DC-3s at $115,000 per copy. During the early fall another DC-2 is acquired while, in November and December, four DC-3s are received from their manufacturer and the first into service is christened City of Atlanta.
After a fifth DC-3 is delivered on January 4, 1941, the British Purchasing Commission is allowed to buy four of the company’s five DC-2s over the next month.
Meanwhile, in late winter, the CAB grants significant north-south route concessions. The northern route is inaugurated on April 15, as a DC-3 flies from Atlanta to Cincinnati via Knoxville and Lexington. On May 1, Atlanta to Savannah via Augusta flights begin.
The corporate headquarters are moved to Atlanta from Monroe during the summer. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 halts any further expansion for the immediate future.
The fleet now comprises 4 Lockheed Model 10B Electras and 5 DC-3s.
Enplanements for the year are 79,154.
Delta, like other U. S. airlines, is required to turn over a portion of its fleet to the government for the war effort. Consequently, its five Lockheed Model 10Bs are all retired in the spring of 1942 and turned over to the U. S. Army Air Forces along with a DC-3 by June. Meanwhile, an aircraft modification center is established at Atlanta in May, where, during the war, more than 100,000 planes will be upgraded and overhauled under government contract.
Also during May, the company, employing C-47s modified at its center to carry litters, begins a domestic medical airlift. For the remainder of the war, these aircraft will shuttle patients from Atlanta hospitals to health facilities in Miami, Dayton, Oklahoma City, San Francisco, and Seattle.
During June and July, Delta takes part in the Alaskan airlift, in which over 100 transports from 11 airlines are directly involved flying men and supplies to Dutch Harbor by way of Edmonton. Company aircraft fly needed items from the southeast via Atlanta, Mobile, and Memphis, to Dayton, where they are transferred to United Air Lines DC-3s for flights north.
The company forms a Military Transport Division and is allowed to operate its returned Douglas, along with several others, under contract to the government beginning on July 25. The four DC-3s remaining under Delta control ferry much of the southeast region’s wartime air traffic. By summer, however, all senior company pilots with any military experience are in uniform.
The military DC-3 is sold to Pennsylvania-Central Airlines in February 1943.
In August, a former military DC-3 is added to the fleet.
In the fall, two route extensions are inaugurated: Shreveport to New Orleans via Alexandria and Baton Route on October 15 and Dallas to Fort Worth on November 1.
The Atlanta modification center provides “crop dusting” capability to several C-47s that are then sent to the South Pacific to spray for insects known to cause tropical disease.
Four more DC-3s are delivered in July and September 1944 and Delta is among the last airlines to turn over its services when the Air Transport Command assumes exclusive control over domestic military logistic frequencies in September. In just over two years, the carrier has flown over 2.5 million miles, flying 4.89 billion pound-miles of cargo.
The company’s Atlanta aircraft modification facility is closed in November.
By the year’s end, the route network stretches 2,915 miles and enplanements have hit 164,287.
During 1945, Delta receives no less than seven DC-3s, three of which are ex-military planes. Also, a Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior (a military C-40A) is delivered in late January for route survey work; it will be disposed of within 18 months.
President Faulk now becomes board chairman.
In July, the CAB authorizes a new route from Chicago to Miami that will be inaugurated via Jacksonville. It is the longest new route so far granted by the government regulatory body.
A new four-times-per-day return service to Chicago, started in December, allows passengers from Illinois to reach Florida with only six stops en route. Late in the year, the company acquires seven Douglas C-54Bs from the military, which are immediately returned to the manufacturer at Santa Monica for modification into civilian DC-4s. On December 18, Delta Air Corporation is officially renamed Delta Air Lines.
Passenger boardings swell to 274,823.
Two additional modified DC-3s are received in January 1946, followed on February 12 by the first DC-4, which on March 6 is placed into service on the Chicago-Miami run, now called the Rocket route. The service is the first nonstop offering in this market and its inauguration brings the company into a long competition for Florida bookings with Eastern Air Lines.
Two additional DC-4s are received in March and the first is placed on the Atlanta-Dallas service on April 1; incidentally, this route is also relabeled, becoming the Comet.
In April and May, four more DC-4s join the fleet. A DC-3 must be written off following an accident at Meridian, Mississippi, on November 10. Additional destinations added to the route network in the last year include Brunswick, Macon, Hattiesburg, Meridian, Selma, Montgomery, Longview, Columbia, Greenville, Asheville, Richmond, Anderson, and Kokomo. CAB permission is received in November to fly the DC-4 Chicago-Miami route nonstop.
Yet another modified DC-3 is received in mid-February 1947.
While on approach to Columbus, Georgia, on April 22, a private aircraft lands atop a company DC-3, with one crew and seven passengers. When the DC-3’s tail is forced down, the pilot applies power and both aircraft rise from 10 ft. to 150 ft. before crashing in flames. All involved (nine people) are killed, including eight of the airline’s top officials.
The last modified DC-3 is delivered in May; two unmodified C-47 freighters are yet to be accepted. Dedicated all-cargo services commence with the C-47s in July over the Atlanta-Cincinnati-Chicago route. Late in the year, an order for 10 Martin 2-0-2s is cancelled.
The first DC-3 to be sold since 1943 is disposed of in January 1948 while, in February, orders are placed for five DC-6s.
Flight 700, a DC-4 with 4 crew and 9 passengers, fails its initial climb away from Chicago on a service to Miami on March 10 and crashes (12 dead). Witnesses on the ground report hearing an explosion before impact. The lost Douglas is replaced by another purchased from Braniff Airways on April 14.
An interchange agreement with Transcontinental and Western Air Lines (TWA) is put into effect on June 1 between Detroit and Atlanta via a turnover point at Cincinnati.
A DC-6, the company’s first pressurized airliner, christened The Flying D, is delivered on October 1, followed by five more by Christmas Eve. These Deltaliners will each offer a Skylounge at the back of their cabins and benefit from a new advertising campaign: “None Faster, None Finer to and thru’ the South!” Meanwhile, wearing the slogan “The Airline of the South” on its fuselage, The Flying D is placed into nonstop Chicago-Miami service on December 1.
The last C-47 freighter is delivered on January 17, 1949, 15 days before the DC-4 acquired the previous April is sold to Chicago & Southern Airlines. An interchange agreement is implemented with American Airlines on September 25 on a route from Atlanta to Los Angeles.
A DC-4 is leased to Northwest Airlines in June 1950 and a seventh DC-6, which is, in fact, the prototype for the one and only purpose-planned DC-6A passenger plane, is delivered on January 4, 1951.
Another interchange agreement is effected with National Airlines and American Airlines on May 1, for a variety of routes to the Northeast and West.
In June, orders are placed for 10 Convair CV-340 Convairliners. Board Chairman Faulk dies on August 31.
Orders are placed for 10 DC-7s in April 1952 and the leased DC-4 is purchased by Northwest Airlines in August. The first CV-340 is delivered on December 18.
Eighteen additional CV-340s are delivered in 1953, beginning with two on January 20; the first enters service on March 1. Between February and June, five DC-4s are sold, including two to Pacific Northern Airlines, one to Irving Herman, owner of Super Coach, and the last, on June 16, to North American Airlines.
Meanwhile, the company’s first DC-3, City of Atlanta, is sold to Mohawk Airlines in April and on May 1, Carleton Putnam’s Chicago & Southern Airlines is acquired.
In order to introduce Delta into C & S’s markets, the combined carrier, now the fifth largest U. S. airline, will be known as Delta-C & S until September 1955.
On May 17, a DC-3, with 3 crew and 17 passengers and on landing approach to Shreveport, Louisiana, crashes in a thunderstorm at Waskom, 13 mi. E of Marshall, Texas; there are no survivors.
The last CV-340 is delivered on February 18, 1954 while the first DC-7, complete with a five-seat Skylounge, an eight-seat Sky Room, and painted in an attractive “Royal Crown” livery, is delivered on March 3, followed by two more at the end of the month.
The four-engine Douglas upgrades are employed to inaugurate three Chicago-Miami nonstop services on April 1: the Royal Biscayne, the Royal Poinciana, and the nighttime Owl Comet. As part of an interchange service with American Airlines and National Airlines, Delta DC-7s now begin flying from Miami to Los Angeles.
A DC-3 freighter with two crew fails its takeoff from Atlanta on June 15 and makes a forced landing that damages the aircraft beyond economical repair; there are no fatalities.
The first DC-7B makes its maiden flight in October and four more DC-7s are introduced during the remainder of the year.
The last four DC-7s are delivered between January 25 and December 10, 1955.
On April 1, a Royal Caribe route is opened from Miami to San Juan and Caracas. The plush new service allows the Atlanta-based carrier to claim provision of the first intercontinental DC-7 service.
The Delta-C & S title reverts to Delta Air Lines in September as the acquisition is fully integrated. The DC-7B prototype, reconfigured as a DC-7, is delivered to the airline on December 10.
The CAB grants Delta permission to begin service New York City on January 20, 1956; a new DC-7B is delivered five days later.
On February 1, the carrier happily starts three daily DC-7 Golden Crown and DC-6 Day coach flights—the latter offered at lower-cost coach fares—from Newark (serving New York City) to Miami via a new stop at Washington, D. C., plus New Orleans, and Dallas-Fort Worth over the older network. In anticipation of a need for additional capacity, four Lockheed 049 Constellations (two of which will later be converted to L-149s) are also purchased from Pan American World Airways (1). Also on February 1, a DC-3 begins the first multistop Houston-Atlanta service.
On April 1, stops are added at Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charlotte along with nonstop flights while, on May 15, the New York terminus is switched from Newark to Idlewild International Airport.
Ten Convair CV-880s are ordered on June 21. The first L-049 is delivered on August 2 with the remainder introduced by mid-September. Meanwhile, the first of five new CV-440 Metropolitans to be delivered by December 7 arrives on August 28 while, on September 10, orders are placed for 10 CV-880 jetliners. Tampa becomes a Florida destination in early October.
Three more CV-440s are received during the first quarter of 1957. A DC-3 is sold to North Central Airlines in April and a total of eight DC-7Bs join the fleet between June 14 and December 29.
A group of five ex-Chinese Civil Air Transport Curtiss C-46s are acquired during September-October and enter freighter service during the latter month on routes out of Atlanta. During the year, all of the carriers CV-340s are converted to CV-440 standard.
The final two DC-7Bs are received in January 1958 and three DC-3s are sold in the spring. In addition, two CV-240s are sold, one each in February and June.
A CAB ruling in March allows Delta to consolidate a number of short-haul routes into longer runs and to upgrade its Atlanta hub.
A long adherent to prohibition, the company, during the spring, begins to sell liquor on its flights. Although the local religious press and some employees will protest, the new policy will be maintained.
The Constellations are withdrawn from service on July 1 and placed in storage.
On September 22, new Royal Service catering, complete with selected premium mealtime entrees, complimentary champagne, reserved seating, and no-cost baggage handling, is introduced aboard the “Sevens.”
Two DC-6s are leased from United Air Lines in December.
Orders are now placed for Douglas DC-8-11 jetliners that begin to join the fleet beginning on July 21, 1959. The next day, the premier jetliner sets a speed record for a flight between Miami and Atlanta of 1 hr., 28 min. The second DC-8-11 arrives on September 14.
One of the two new aircraft, Flight 823, is employed to inaugurate (by two hours over Eastern Air Lines) the world’s first DC-8 service on September 18, over the route from New York (IDL) to Atlanta. A C-47 freighter is sold in September and a DC-3 in October.
During the year, two more DC-6s are leased from United Air Lines. A DC-7B crashes into the Gulf of Mexico on November 15. One of the leased DC-6Bs, the Mainliner Iowa, is purchased in December.
A C-46 Commando crash-lands at Tampa on January 13, 1960, and a second is substantially damaged when it hits ice while landing at Chicago on February 6.
The first CV-880 is turned over by the manufacturer on February 10, and, in a ceremony involving President Woolman, is christened Delta Queen. The next day, it makes its delivery flight from San Diego to Atlanta via Miami in a record 3 hrs., 31 min.
A CV-440 makes a hard landing at Chicago on February 25 that causes minor injuries to all 24 people aboard.
On April 1, the two L-049s and two L-149s are sold to American Flyers Airlines. The first CV-880 is followed by two more, one each on May 4 and 6. The three commence Royal Jet Service on May 15 on nonstop flights from New York to Atlanta, Houston, and New Orleans.
On May 12, all 51 aboard a DC-8-11 suffer minor injuries when it encounters severe turbulence while on landing approach to Miami. A DC-3 freighter is badly damaged while being parked at Columbia, S. C. on May 21. Flight 1903, a CV-880 with four crew, stalls during takeoff from Hartsfield Airport, Atlanta, on a May 23 training flight, and crashes; there are no survivors.
The first 20 DC-8-11s now begin upgrade to Dash-12 standard; later, they will be modified into Dash-51s. The remainder of the original CV-880 order will be completed by December 13, although three more are ordered in June.
Dallas to Atlanta and Houston to New Orleans CV-880 service is inaugurated on July 1, followed by two services (one nonstop and one via Memphis) from Chicago to New Orleans and another from Chicago to Atlanta on August 1.
Philadelphia-Houston CV-880 flights via Baltimore and New Orleans commence on October 15. Upon the completion of the Knoxville-Atlanta service on October 29, the last DC-3 is retired. Additionally, another CV-240 is sold. Houston to Chicago via St. Louis CV-880 service is initiated the next day. CV-880 flights are started in December to Miami from both Chicago and Cincinnati.
Although no one is injured, a DC-8-11 is severely damaged as the result of a hard landing at Dallas on February 6, 1961; eight days later, the landing gear of a C-46 fails during the plane’s Atlanta landing. As a result of the CAB’s Southern Transcontinental Route decision of March 11, Delta is awarded a Los Angeles to Miami concession.
Another DC-8-11 is damaged in a bad landing, this time at Chicago on April 12. Four days later a third DC-8-11 incurs substantial damage in the same sort of put down at Detroit. On May 17, the failure of No. 2 engine’s starter results in damage to a CV-880.
With the route interchange agreements now no longer needed by the company, those in effect with American Airlines, Trans World Airlines (TWA) , and National Airlines all cease on June 10. The next day, DC-8s open routes from Atlanta to Los Angeles, from Miami to L. A. via Dallas, and from New Orleans to L. A. via Dallas.
A DC-8-11 is damaged during a training mission at Jacksonville, Florida, on June 16 when its nosegear fails on landing.
On July 1, an Atlanta-Dallas-Las Vegas-San Francisco service is launched.
A new Convair 880 is received on September 9 and a CV-340, with nine aboard, makes a hard landing at Kansas City, Missouri, on September 23.
Direct Atlanta-San Francisco flights begin on October 13. Also in October, Orlando is opened as a market.
A DC-7 with 20 aboard crashes at Jacksonville on December 2 while another DC-7 must be written off after a ground accident in Chicago on December 16.
During the year, seven CV-340s are sold to North Central Airlines, four CV-240s are sold to various purchasers, and the four DC-6s leased from United Air Lines are purchased.
Between April and December 1962, four DC-8-51s are delivered. Meanwhile, on May 1, Las Vegas-San Francisco service is initiated. After the DC-7 damaged at Chicago the previous December is dismantled, it will be turned into a restaurant.
Four more CV-880s, representing fulfillment of the order, are all delivered in July.
While taxiing at Memphis on January 13, 1963, a DC-7 with a five-man crew collides with a parked U. S.AF Fairchild C-123 Provider (one dead); the airliner will later be repaired and returned to duty. The next day, the left landing gear of a DC-8-12 with 53 aboard collapses during the aircraft’s Tampa landing; no injuries are reported.
Following a meeting between Donald Douglas and Delta founder C.
E. Woolman in Atlanta, Delta, on March 13, launches the DC-9, placing the first order for 15 of the new shorthaul jetliners at $3 million per copy.
With CAB permission, the carrier begins Los Angeles-Caribbean service on May 1.
A DC-6 with 24 aboard undershoots its Indianapolis landing on August 13 while a CV-440 with 38 aboard crashes at Atlanta on November 1 after its left landing gear fails on landing; no injuries are reported from either accident.
Two DC-8-51s are delivered, one in November and the other in December. Also in December, the government approves a new interchange agreement between Delta and Pan American World Airways (1).
Enplanements for the year total 4,648,000 and profits are $1,766 million.
Airline employment in 1964 stands at 10,462 and the fleet includes 84 aircraft.
Early in the spring, Atlanta to San Francisco DC-8-51 nonstop flights are introduced.
A CV-880 with 93 aboard encounters clear-air turbulence near Tampa on March 26; one passenger is badly hurt.
On April 28, the company orders three of the Boeing SSTs then under development; none will be delivered.
The first one-plane daily service from the southeastern U. S. to Europe begins in May as the result of the interchange agreement signed with Pan American World Airways (1). A Pan Am DC-8-33 is able to operate over Delta’s route from New Orleans to Washington, D. C. (lAD) via Atlanta and on to London and Frankfurt.
Three more DC-8-51s now join the fleet, one each in May, October, and November.
On November 24, a C-46R with two crew, having hydroplaned after landing, is totaled in the resulting crash at Baton Rouge and cannot be repaired.
During the year two CV-440s are sold, one each to North Central Airlines and Allegheny Airlines (1).
Passenger boardings climb 17% to 5.6 million and freight traffic is up by 24%. Revenues advance 13% to a record $240 million and the net profit jumps 41% to $18.4 million.
The workforce in 1965 is 11,560.
The first DC-9-14 makes its maiden flight at Long Beach on February 15 while, after 40 years as president and general manager, C. E. Woolman becomes chairman/CEO; a 31-year company veteran, Charles
H. Dolson, becomes president. The board of directors votes a two-for-one stock split, which increases the number of outstanding common shares to 6.37 million.
Between March and December, four more DC-8-51s are delivered and the initial DC-9-14 is accepted in a ceremony at Long Beach on September 8.
Christened Delta Prince, the DC-9-14 makes its delivery flight to Atlanta via Dallas (DFW) transporting a bottle of water from each of its forthcoming service cities and arriving to the strains of Dixie, as played by a Georgia high school band. The first of its type in the world employed on scheduled revenue operations by a large carrier, the Delta Prince, Flight 791 under Capt. C. J. Williams, enters service on November 29 on a run from Atlanta to Kansas City via Memphis. The second DC-9-14 service is operated from Atlanta to Detroit via Dayton and Columbus. Nineteen cities on the company network are served by the first four DC-9-14s by December 19.
On the last day of the year, the fleet totals 92 aircraft: 16 CV-880s, 19 CV-340/440s, 4 Curtiss C-46Ds, 19 DC-8-51s, 4 DC-9-14s, 19 DC-7s, and 11 DC-6s. A total of 6,542,919 passengers are originated during the year. Revenues climb 18% to $282.42 million while net earnings jump 51% to $27.79 million.
The final two DC-8-51s are delivered in January and August 1966 while the remainder of the DC-9-14 order begins delivery in July. Meanwhile, a DC-7B is sold in June and a two-year sell-off of the DC-7s to Ontario, California-based BMR now begins while a CV-440 is sold to North Central Airlines.
In August, September, and October three Lockheed L-100s join the cargo division, one per month, replacing the C-46s, which are now retired.
Founder/Chairman Woolman dies on September 11 from complications surrounding heart surgery and is succeeded as chairman by President Dolson.
The first L-100 is placed into service on September 15, making Delta one of the first commercial operators of the Hercules freighter. Orders are placed for 13 DC-8-61s.
Enplanements for the year are 8,750,560.
BMR continues receiving ex-Delta DC-7s during 1967. They are joined by the first of seven DC-7Bs to be received from Delta during the next year.
The workforce is now 15,972.
On January 31, the four remaining C-46s are sold to the Aviation Association of Georgia. Also in January, the last of 17 DC-9-14s is delivered.
On a March 30 training flight, Flight 9877, a DC-8-12 with a six-man crew is in the process of executing a simulated two-engine-out landing at Moisant Airport, Kenner, Louisiana. The aircraft crashes into a motel and home at New Orleans, killing all aboard, plus 18 in the hotel (9 of whom are high school students from Juda, Wisconsin) and 2 in the house.
The first DC-8-61 is received on April 10 and enters service on April 18. Two days later, the first 12 of 63 DC-9-32s begin service. Two more DC-8-61s are received, one each in June and July.
A CV-880, with 59 aboard, turns around and lands safely at Newark on June 24 after losing an engine shortly after takeoff.
In August, a DC-9-15 is leased for four years and an L-100 for two. Company officials now announce the arrangement of a $175-million bank loan to finance the equipment expansion.
Passenger boardings jump 9% to 9,616,000 and freight traffic is up by 15%. Overall revenue advances by 7%.
The employee population in 1968 is 17,483.
A DC-6’s nosegear collapses at Chattanooga on February 15.
On February 21, Flight 843, a DC-8-61 with 7 crew and 109 passengers and en route from Chicago to Miami via West Palm Beach, is hijacked and diverted to Havana; the craft, crew, and passengers are allowed to return after the pistol-wielding pirate deplanes. Feeling unwelcome in Cuba, the skyjacker will move to Spain two years later and be extradited back to the U. S., where he will end up in a mental institution.
The 11 oldest aircraft are now all withdrawn and sold by year’s end and the sale of DC-7s and DC-7Bs to BMR is completed. Another Hercules freighter is chartered.
After losing an engine in bad weather, a CV-340 with 3 crew and 39 passengers crash-lands while going around for another try at a single-engine landing at Evansville, Indiana, on March 20; although the plane must be written off, there are no fatalities.
On April 2, orders are placed for two dozen Lockheed L-1011 TriStar 1s. Between May and December, three more DC-8-61s are received along with 26 DC-9-32s.
On July 12, O. D. Richards is subdued at Miami-talked into surrender by the plane’s first officer-after attempting to hijack Flight 977, a DC-9-32 with 48 aboard and en route from Baltimore to Houston, and force it to Havana. One passenger, U. S. Senator Eastland, reports that the pirate threatened him before entering the cockpit. Following a mental examination, Richards will be committed to a psychiatric hospital.
In other non-fleet oriented activities during the year, the company expands its general maintenance facilities by 90%, having almost 17 acres under one Atlanta roof. At the same city, a new computer center is opened, featuring an IBM 360/65 Deltamatic reservations computer, and a $7-million expansion program is completed, including two terminal rotundas with 12 jet gates.
The company’s first DC-6, The FlyingD, is sold to Aero Tech on October 16 while five DC-8-33s are purchased from Pan American World Airways (1) on December 31.
Customer bookings jump 16.8% to 11,232,789 and cargo traffic climbs by 33%. Revenues advance by 17% to $467,286,144.
On January 13, 1969, passenger K. E. McPeek, wielding a shotgun, is foiled in his attempt to force Flight 297, a CV-880 with 77 aboard and en route from Detroit to Miami, to fly to Cuba. The pilot is able to land at Miami because McPeek, after threatening a stewardess, returns to his seat with his ailing 3-year-old son and is seized by fellow passengers.
On March 17, Flight 518, a DC-9-32 with 63 passengers and en route from Dallas to Charleston, is taken over between Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia, and diverted to Havana. There the hijacker meets and eats with the pirates of a Faucett Peruvian Airlines, S. A. DC-4 stolen the same day. The pirate will return to the U. S. via Canada later in the year, captured, and confined in a mental facility for three years.
Two days later, on March 19, the FBI foils the attempt of gunman D. A. Dickey to seize Flight 918, a CV-880, with 97 passengers and en route from Dallas to New Orleans. Criminal charges against Dickey will be dismissed when he agrees to confinement in a psychiatric hospital in Arizona.
Federal agents are unable to prevent the capture of Flight 821, a CV-880 with 114 passengers and en route from San Diego to New Jersey on March 25, just after takeoff from Dallas; the Convair is diverted to Cuba.
The nosegear of a CV-440 collapses at Macon on June 10.
Two more ex-Pan Am DC-8-33s are acquired in August.
With the delivery through the remainder of the year of 15 DC-9-32s and 16 DC-8-61s, Delta’s fleet total grows to 161.
During the summer, four new buildings that will house the Atlanta Reservations Center, plus associated operations, are completed.
During the remainder of the year, 11 CV-340s are sold to Ransome Associates; the last of 6 DC-8-61s to be delivered on the year joins the fleet on November 6.
Destined for high company posts later on, Allison Johnson and Jenny Poole are hired as stewardesses during the year.
Fourteen-year-old David L. Booth attempts to hijack Flight 670, a DC-9-32 with 75 passengers boarded at Cincinnati and preparing for a service to Chicago on November 10, by holding an 18-year-old girl, G.
J. House, at knifepoint. He is persuaded to surrender before takeoff and the FBI turns him over to juvenile authorities after deciding not to press air piracy charges. Upon examination, the youth will be declared mentally ill and will be held in a juvenile psychiatric institution for almost two years.
Enplanements total 12,788,000. Revenues are $573.03 million and with expenses in check, profits are high: $90.17 million (operating) and $41.48 million (net).
The Ransome purchase of CV-340s is completed in early 1970; during the remainder of the year, that company also purchases three CV-440s.
W. Thomas Beebe succeeds Charles Dolson as president.
On January 6, three passengers overpower a man holding a stewardess at knifepoint in an effort to force Flight 274, a DC-9-32 with 65 passengers and en route from Orlando to Columbus, to fly to Switzerland. Upon his arrest, the man is identified as A. Funjak, who had been arrested in May 1969 for threatening the life of President Nixon. Funjak will be tried and receive a five-year prison term.
L. M. Rhodes surrenders to U. S. authorities in Madrid on February 9, claiming to be the hijacker who forced a Delta craft to Cuba the previous February.
On March 30, a DC-8-51 is lost in an accident at New Orleans.
Flight 199, a CV-880 with 102 passengers and en route from Chicago to Miami on May 25 is taken over just after takeoff from an intermediate stop at Atlanta by a Spanish-speaking woman. Her 12-year-old son serves as translator and demands, on her behalf, that the aircraft be flown to Cuba. In 1980, the woman will attempt to sneak back into the U. S. via the Cuban boatlift. During immigration processing, she will be found out, put on trial and, upon conviction, sentenced to prison for 20 years.
An L-100 is leased for the first week of June and also during the month a DC-9-14 is leased from Eastern Air Lines for a year.
En route from Atlanta to Savannah on August 20, Flight 435, a DC-9-32 with 82 aboard, is diverted to Cuba by a man allegedly carrying a bomb. Foolish enough to travel to San Juan in 1975, the man will be arrested and returned to the continental U. S. for trial; upon conviction, he will receive a 20-year prison sentence.
Another DC-9-32 is involved in an accident at Louisville, Kentucky, on September 8.
The carrier’s first Boeing 747-132 is delivered on October 2, and is followed by a second on October 22. Jumbojet service from Atlanta-Los Angeles via Dallas begins on October 25 while receipt of a third B-747-132 on November 22 allows service to also start to Chicago, Detroit, and Miami.
The employee population is 20,943 and the addition of 5 more jetliners brings the fleet total to 136. Passenger boardings accelerate 8% to 13.9 million and freight-ton miles increase by 11% to 125.8 million. Revenues total $684.37 million and expenses are $569.29; operating profits of $79.08 million are earned along with net income of $41.35 million.
En route from Chicago to Nashville on February 4, 1971, Flight 379, a DC-9-32 with 27 passengers, is diverted to Cuba by a pirate who shows what he alleges is a nitroglycerin bomb. The assailant will be captured four years later when he returns to the U. S. and given a 20-year prison term.
Pan American World Airways (1) and Delta B-747 Jumbojets now begins to alternate on the European (London and Frankfurt) segments of the interchange agreement, which has been in force between the two carriers since 1964. On March 18, Delta orders five Douglas DC-10-10s. David Garrett succeeds Thomas Beebe as president as Beebe becomes board chairman.
While on the ground at Birmingham, Alabama, on March 31, Flight 400, a DC-9-32 with 22 persons aboard, becomes the subject of a failed hijacking by a 14-year-old boy; overpowered, the youth will be put on probation for three years.
On April 21, a merger is announced with Northeast Airlines; the boards of both airlines agree to the arrangement in May. Also in April, the leased Eastern Air Lines DC-9-14 is returned.
The last of 63 DC-9-32s is delivered in July and the fourth B-747-132 arrives on September 30. In October, the leased DC-9-15 is returned while the fifth and final B-747-132 is delivered on November 11.
The year’s enplanements are 15,234,720. Revenues are $661.2 million; the operating gain is $128.9 million and net profit totals $29.99 million.
Fourteen Boeing 727-232As jetliners are ordered on March 29, 1972, at which time the Seattle-based manufacturer announces that its trimotor is the first jet-powered airliner in history to reach a sales total of
1.000. As part of the arrangement, Boeing agrees to take Delta’s last 15 CV-880s in trade.
En route from West Palm Beach to Chicago (ORD) on April 17, Flight 952, a CV-880 with 78 passengers, is taken over by a lone assailant claiming to have a pistol, but who is, in fact, unarmed. Upon the aircraft’s arrival at its destination, the man surrenders to police. He will be tried and sentenced to prison for 20 years.
President Nixon approves the Delta and Northeast merger on May 19. Northeast Airlines will be absorbed into Delta on August 1, along with 3,500 employees, bringing the company total to 26,421. The number of cities served increases to 99 and unduplicated route mileage increases to
33.000. Prize destinations include the Florida market (from New York, Boston, and Philadelphia), routes to the Bahamas and Bermuda from Boston and New York, and numerous New England communities now available for service from the south. At this point, Delta begins to sell off most of the fleet acquired from Northeast Airlines, except for 13 B-727-295s, which are given new livery.
During a May 30 training flight, Flight 9570 with four crew is caught in wake turbulence from an American Airlines wide-body while going around. The DC-9-14 Delta Prince—the first DC-9 to enter commercial service—strikes the runway with its right wing at Great Southwest International Airport and crashes in flames; there are no survivors.
En route from Detroit to Miami on July 31, Flight 841, a DC-8-51 with 101 passengers, is commandeered by three Black Panther Party members, Melvin and Jean McNair and George Brown, as well as Joyce Tillerson Burgess, accompanied by two children. At Miami, the pirates allow the passengers to go free after collecting a $ 1-million ransom from FBI agents, the largest payoff ever made to hijackers. The Douglas is forced to fly to Algiers via Barcelona, where Algerian officials, upon its August 1 arrival, briefly take the skyjackers into custody and confiscate their extorted cash and the children. On August 23, the Algerian government agrees to return the ransom to the U. S. Delta officials pick it up, along with the children, at Paris (ORY) the next day. The pirates will be arrested by French police in May 1976. All will be tried and given prison terms of between three and five years.
Late in the year, Delta begins selling all of its DC-9-14 fleet, with the first 13 aircraft going to Southern Airways. Sold before delivery to United Airlines, the 5 DC-10-10s are leased for 2.5 years, beginning in November. Simultaneously, the L-1011 order is increased to 30 machines.
On December 20, North Central Airlines Flight 575, a DC-9-31 with 4 crew and 41 passengers is taking off in heavy fog from Runway 27L at Chicago (ORD), while Delta Flight 954, a CV-880 with 7 crew and 81 passengers, taxies across Runway 27L. The two aircraft collide, snapping off the Delta plane’s vertical stabilizer. Ten aboard the local service airliner are killed and lack of speedy medical aid immediately following the accident raises new issues about airport emergency readiness. The Convair is judged too badly damaged to be economically repaired and will be scrapped the following summer.
Passenger boardings jump 32% to 22,404,000 and freight traffic rises by 14%. Income is $878,167,000 ($960 million when combined with pre-August earnings from Northeast Airlines) and the net profit is the highest for any of the trunk carriers this year: $51.09 million.
The employee population in 1973 numbers 28,160. The first Boeing 727-232A is delivered in January; 22 more of the 42-plane order will arrive before December.
While on final approach to Boston after a July 31 service from Burlington and Manchester, New Hampshire, Flight 723, a DC-9-31 with 6 crew and 83 passengers, strikes a seawall 3,000-ft. short of Runway 04, crashes while on instrument approach, and catches fire; there are no survivors. The accident is the first fatal Delta revenue service crash in 20 years. On the same day, another ex-Northeast Airlines DC-9-31, with 55 aboard, skids off the runway during its landing at Chattanooga, Tennessee; passengers evacuate the craft through its emergency chutes and no injuries are reported.
The Hercules freighter service ends on September 1 and the first of 24 TriStar 1s is delivered in October. On October 12, the government announces that, in light of the energy crisis, a mandatory jet-fuel allocation plan will take effect on November 1.
Arriving at Chattanooga at an excessive rate of descent onto final approach on November 27, Flight 516, a DC-9-32 with 5 crew and 74 passengers, hits approach lights 1,600-ft. short of the runway. The aircraft hits a dyke 785-ft. short of the runway, and then skids 1,200 ft. to a stop. Although 9 are injured there are no fatalities.
The next day, company officials reveal that, because of the energy crisis, an estimated 10% of the company’s 1,400 daily departures have been eliminated.
Also during November, the company begins turning over its 15 CV-880s and 7 DC-8-33s to Boeing (as part of the B-727 deal) and, along with a second sold in December, withdraws an L-100 in October.
Lockheed L-1011 service begins in December and the sale of DC-9-14s to Southern Airways is completed during the year. Largely unnoticed during the year is the appointment of Joy Walker to the right seat of a DC-9-32; she is the company’s first female pilot.
Customer bookings advance by 9.8% to 24,620,000 and freight traffic climbs 10.6%. On revenues of $1.12 billion, expenses are $99.9 million. The operating profit is $123.6 million and net income is $74.99 million, once again the highest profit by a U. S. trunk carrier.
A total of 701 employees are hired in 1974. The sale of CV-880s to Boeing is completed on January 14 when the last two aircraft are turned over at Wichita. Also during the month, all seven DC-8-33s are withdrawn and sold to Boeing.
On February 22, Samuel Joseph Byck murders airport security policeman George N. Ramsburg and DC-9-32 copilot Fred Jones and wounds pilot Reese Douglas Lofton during an unsuccessful attempt to hijack Flight 523 from Baltimore (BWI) to Atlanta; foiled, Byck commits suicide. Columnist Jack Anderson reports on February 26 that he has received a tape from Byck, mailed before the incident, on which he discloses his plans to fly the jetliner into the White House in an effort to kill President Nixon.
The last L-100 Hercules is sold on March 30. The remaining FH-227s are all disposed of during the rest of the year as 28 new jetliners are received: 14 B-727-232s and 14 L-1011 TriStar 1s. The Fairchilds, together with most of the DC-9-31s acquired from Northeast Airlines, are sold to Ozark Airlines. A total of $400 million is committed to the purchase of 11 additional B-727-232s and a B-747-132 is returned to its manufacturer.
Enplanements grow 7.2% this year to 26,403,000 while cargo is up 1.1% to 260.3 million FTKs. For the second straight year, income exceeds a billion dollars, up 21% to $1.36 billion. Expenses are in hand, at $1.2 billion, and the operating profit is $164.62 million. Net income accelerates 16% to $87.34 million and gives the carrier its 27th consecutive profitable year.
The workforce in 1975 is 28,273.
In January, the company receives the “Financial Management Award” from Air Transport World magazine.
A B-747-132 is sold back to Boeing in March and when a CV-880 is withdrawn on April 18, it is sold to Elvis Presley for use as a VIP transport. Christened Lisa Marie, it will be placed on permanent exhibit at Graceland Museum at Memphis on February 6, 1984.
The United Airlines DC-10-10 lease expires in May and is not renewed.
On July 20 the carrier dispenses with its requirement that its 4,250 flight attendants wear red, white, and blue uniforms, despite their suitability for the Bicentennial of the U. S.
Five passengers are injured after a DC-9-32 is buffeted by turbulence and hail during a flight from Cleveland-Burlington, Vermont, on August 3.
The last of 20 (from a 1972 order for 43) B-727-232 jetliners is delivered in September. That month a supplemental order for 21 more begins to arrive.
Passenger boardings rise only a miniscule 0.5% to 26,530,000. Cargo is down, by 6.2%. Revenues accelerate to a record $1.42 billion, but expenses are kept in check at $1.35 billion. The operating profit is $70.86 million and while down from the previous year, the $37.38-million net gain is the 28th consecutive profit.
The number of employees grows by 2% in 1976 to 29,091. Security officers in New Orleans detain St. Louis Cardinals’ running back Terry Metcalf on January 19 for threatening to blow up a company jetliner with firecrackers found in his baggage.
Orderly withdrawal and sale of the DC-8-51 fleet, along with 30 DC-9-32s, begins, while the European interchange agreement with Pan American World Airways (1) is allowed to end.
Final arrangements are completed for the sale of the remaining Jum-bojets to their manufacturer while four more DC-9-32s will pass to Ozark Air Lines.
A new and costly cargo terminal is occupied at Atlanta and in July, Storer Leasing is acquired.
Applications are placed before the CAB seeking nonstop authority from Atlanta to Boston, continuing on to London. The Atlanta to Boston segment is started late in the year. The extension to London, although awarded by the regulators, is remanded by President Gerald Ford.
Three more L-1011s are delivered during the fourth quarter.
Customer bookings grow by 6.8% to 28,332,000 while freight increases by 13.1%. Operating revenues are $1.69 billion and expenses are $1.5 billion. The operating profit is $127.74 million and the 19th consecutive net profit skyrockets 88% to $84.14 million.
A supplemental order for 21 B-727-232A jetliners is delivered to Boeing in February 1977. Meanwhile, the last DC-8-51s are simultaneously retired.
Between March and April, the three remaining B-747-132s are traded back to Boeing and, in May, another group of Boeing trijets begins to arrive, some as the result of the Storer acquisition.
On December 21, the CAB and President Jimmy Carter award Delta a transatlantic route from Atlanta to London (LGW).
During the year, the carrier’s L-1011 fleet is fitted with nine-abreast coach seating.
Enplanements for the year total 29,635,000. On operating income of $1.88 billion, net income is $116.56 million.
The number of workers is increased 4.2% in 1978 to 32,281.
To operate the new London service, the company orders 11 long-haul TriStar 500s in January.
Also during the month, the company receives the 1977 “Airline of the Year” award from Air Transport World magazine.
During the spring, CEO Beebe makes several visits to the White House to attempt to win President Carter’s support for his antideregulation position; the former Georgia governor is not interested.
The London route is inaugurated with much publicity on April 30, employing two TriStar 200s leased from Trans World Airlines (TWA) for a two-year period.
Additional orders are now placed for 42 B-767-200s and 8 B-727-232As. In September, the carrier receives its 100th B-727-232, making it the world’s largest operator of the type.
Following the arrival of airline deregulation in October, the carrier assumes several new routes and improves frequencies on a number of older ones. Meanwhile, Delta files several unsuccessful suits in federal court in an effort to block the implementation of deregulation.
Passenger boardings jump 19% to 36,586,000 while freight traffic grows a modest 1.3% to 293.17 million FTKs. Revenues advance by 18.93% to $2.24 billion and expenses are held to $2.02 billion. The operating profit is $216.16 million while net profit climbs 17.9% to a record $137.4 million.
Airline employment is increased by 9.1% in 1979 to 36,000.
On February 16, just after landing at Chicago (ORD), a The Flying Tigers Line B-747F is forced to run into a snowbank to avoid a Delta B-727-232 taxiing in its path across the runway; the near-collision costs $17 million in Jumbojet repairs.
Atlanta-Amsterdam flights begin on May 5 and other domestic markets now entered include the Florida cities of Sarasota, Bradenton, Daytona Beach, and Fort Myers, plus the Texas towns of Austin and San Antonio. The first L-1011-500 is received in May and undergoes a month of trials.
On June 11, gunman Eduardo Guerra, who had defected from Cuba with a MIG-17 fighter plane in 1969, commandeers Flight 1061, an L-1011 with 209 passengers and en route from New York to Fort Lauderdale. He diverts it to Cuba, where Premier Castro agrees to offer the one-time traitor political asylum.
L-1011-500 service over the North Atlantic begins on June 17 to Frankfurt and Hamburg and the fiftieth anniversary is celebrated in June.
On July 16 dozens suffer minor injuries during the evacuation of an L-1011 after a bomb threat causes an aborted takeoff from Fort Lauderdale.
The failure of an air traffic controller leads to a near-collision between a DC-9-32 and an Air Florida B-737-2T4C over North Carolina in November.
During the year, additional progress is made on the company’s fleet modernization. Six DC-9-32s and two DC-8-51s are sold as four more L-1011 TriStar 1s and another L-1011-500, in addition to eight B-727-232As, join the fleet. A contract is signed to reengine its remaining 13 DC-8-61s with GE/Snecma CFM-56 engines, thereby turning them into DC-8-71s.
Customer bookings swell 10.7% to 40,495,000 while freight climbs 8.2% to 317 million FTKs. Revenues advance 19% to $2.67 billion as expenses (led by a $225-million fuel price increase) leap 26% to $2.55 billion. Although the operating profit is $123.7 million, the net profit declines by 24.58% to $103.6 million. Although the net is down, it is still highest among trunk lines; indeed, $16 million ahead of second place American Airlines.
The employee population increases 1.4% in 1980 to 36,500.
Samuel Aldon Ingram Jr., traveling with his wife and two children on January 25, hijacks Flight 1116, an L-1011 with 63 passengers on a flight from Miami to New York, and forces it to Cuba, where he is seized while negotiating for a flight to Iran.
David Garrett succeeds W. Thomas Beebe as board chairman and lack of demand forces discontinuance on April 27 of nonstop flights between New York and Miami. Also in April, the two leased TriStar 200s are returned to Trans World Airlines (TWA).
Daily flights from Atlanta to Seattle and Portland commence on June 1 and service is also started to Dallas (DFW), where an effort is undertaken to turn that Texas point into a major hub.
After a decade-long manhunt, the FBI arrests Cuban refugee Graciela Quesada Zamora at Fort Chafee, Arkansas, on June 7 for the May 25, 1970 skyjacking of a company aircraft to Cuba.
A pilot, who overshoots Tampa and safely lands a B-727-232 and its 90 passengers at MacDill AFB, is suspended on June 22.
En route from Miami to San Juan on July 22, Flight 1135, an L-1011 with 158 passengers, is captured by a lone gunman who orders the wide-body flown to Havana. Bad weather forces the pilot to put down at Camaguey, instead. The pirate is taken in hand by Cuban police and receives a three-year prison term.
Flight 1065, an L-1011 with 193 passengers and en route from San Juan to Miami, is diverted to Cuba on August 16 by a person carrying what appear to be containers of gasoline. The assailant is taken in hand by Cuban police and will be sent to jail for several years.
Having returned from Cuba, Samuel Ingram Jr. surrenders to the FBI at New York on August 20. He will be indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to prison for a term of 40 years.
Also in August, the third of three L-1011-500s to be received new from the manufacturer arrives.
En route from New Orleans to Atlanta on September 13, Flight 334, a B-727-232 with 88 passengers is captured by 2 hijackers who threaten to blow up the aircraft unless it is diverted to Havana. In Cuba, the men receive prison sentences of three and four years, respectively.
Cuban refugees Crecencio Perez-Perez and Juan Adega Fresneda hijack Flight 470, a B-727-232 with 111 passengers and en route from
Atlanta to Colombia, South Carolina, on September 17 and divert it to Havana, where they are led away in handcuffs. In the first instance where Cuba promptly returns hijackers, the two men are turned over to U. S. Marshals the next day and sent to Charleston aboard an FAA transport. They will be indicted, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 40-year prison terms.
Following an apparent error in ATC instructions radioed from the ground, a B-727-232 nearly collides with a Piedmont Airlines (1) B-737-201 as both are incoming, west of New York (LGA) on December 10.
Two days later on December 12, Delta becomes launch customer for the B-757-200, ordering 60 machines with which to begin replacing its B-727-232s and DC-9-32s. During the year, fuel efficiency of the 212-unit fleet is increased to a point where 3% less fuel is consumed.
As is the case throughout the industry, traffic is down. Passenger en-planements slip 5% to 38 million; however, cargo is up a minor 0.3% to 453.19 million FTKs. Both revenues and expenses are up by 23%; the former by 23.58% to $3.3 billion and the latter by 23.23% to $3.13 billion. The operating profit is $164.17 million and net gain is $130.46 million. Delta’s net profit line is the highest for any major U. S. carrier; indeed, $50 million better than that of second-place Pan American World Airways (1).
The number of employees grows by 2.9% in 1981 to 36,101.
The carrier, in January, receives the 1980 “Financial Management Award” from Air Transport World magazine.
Sale of the DC-8-51 fleet and the last of 30 DC-9-32s is completed.
Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Tulsa, and Colombia, South Carolina, are added to the route system from Dallas (DFW) on March 18 as the company adds more frequencies between the Texas airport and Baton Rouge, Monroe, and San Antonio. Cincinnati also becomes a significant hub as new services are inaugurated between that Ohio metropolis and Phoenix, Denver, Washington, D. C., and Raleigh/Durham.
Other new routes are Denver to Las Vegas and Atlanta to Pittsburgh. Ground is broken for a new technical facility at Tampa and capacity is increased at the Dallas (DFW) and Atlanta technical centers.
A new passenger terminal is started at New York (LGA) and the computerized marketing subsidiary Episilon Trading Corporation is formed.
Katharine Louis “Kathy” Hargan is arrested by the FBI while trying to stow away in a trunk aboard a New York to Atlanta flight on June 8, allegedly to ransack valuables from the jetliner’s baggage compartment.
The company joins with Eastern Air Lines on August 19 in an effort to collect from the city of Atlanta over $15 million in taxes they claim have been collected on equipment and other property.
On October 7, the Chicago Circuit Court awards Thomas and Melanie Klucynski $208,000 for being bumped from a company flight; the award is the largest ever made to passengers denied confirmed seats.
The carrier adds four daily roundtrips from Atlanta to Pittsburgh, beginning on October 25.
In November, the last of a 1977 supplemental order for B-727-232A jetliners is completed with the delivery of the 129th and final unit.
In December, a comprehensive marketing and code-sharing agreement is arranged with Cincinnati-based Comair; frequent flyer programs are also combined.
Customer bookings decline 9.9% to 34,777,000, while cargo is up by an equal percentage to 318.89 million FTKs. Operating income jumps 10.37% to $3.64 billion while expenses, although up by 12.31%, are still held to $3.55 billion. The operating profit is $86.5 million and the $91.64 million net profit is the 34th in a row, making the carrier the bestearning airline in the world.
The employee population is cut 0.3% in 1982 to 36,500.
Three persons hijack Flight 591, a B-727-232 with 103 passengers and en route from Chicago to Miami, to Cuba on April 5. One stewardess is injured when the hijackers, using gasoline as their weapon, splash the eyes of the flight attendant. The pirates are taken into custody by Havana officials and are given 20-year prison terms.
The first of 13 DC-8-61s to be reengined with GE/SNECMACFM56-2-1C turbofans and redesignated DC-8-71s is delivered in early April and enters service on the Atlanta-Savannah route on April 24.
Delta now begins to compete with American Airlines at the latter’s Dallas (DFW) hub. Initially resisting the challenge of entering the discount fare wars started by others as a way of generating traffic in a time of recession, Delta finds itself drawn in beginning in October.
Led by 3 flight attendants, 7,000 company employees, in a show of faith toward a company unwilling to lay off workers during a period of traffic decline, pledges $30 million at $1,000 per head through payroll deductions for the purchase of the first B-767-232. Upon its arrival in late November, it is christened The Spirit of Delta and is placed into revenue service on December 15.
Fourth-quarter arrangements are made to trade 11 L-1011 TriStar 1s to Boeing as part of a deal for the 15-year lease of 33 new B-737-232s. Additionally, several B-727-232s are sold and another computerized marketing subsidiary, Datas Incorporated, is established.
Passenger boardings for the year fall 3.1% to 33,678,000 and cargo grows only 1% to 322.6 million FTKs. Revenues dip 0.35% to $3.63 billion while expenses jump 4.49% to $3.71 billion. An operating loss of $85.94 million is suffered and the net loss—the first in 35 years—totals $17.05 million.
The payroll is increased by 2.4% in 1983 to 37,368 and, in January, Delta receives the 1982 “Technology Management Award” from Air Transport World magazine.
Former stewardess Allison Johnson is now named manager of the Atlanta flight-attendant base.
While en route from Portland, Maine, to Boston on January 7, Flight 177, a B-727-232 with 30 passengers, is suddenly taken over by a passenger, claiming to have a bomb, and demands to be flown to Las Vegas. On the ground at Boston, the man is overpowered by crew members. Upon examination, the man will be found mentally unstable and sent to a psychiatric institution.
The second of 15 B-767-232s is delivered in March; deliveries will continue apace for two years. The last of 24 TriStar 1s joins the fleet in May.
En route from Miami to Tampa on July 17, Flight 722, a B-737-232 with 107 persons aboard, is hijacked by 3 men armed with knives and an aerosol can, who divert it to Havana. Upon arrival, Cuban police board the Boeing and arrest the pirates.
Flight 784, a B-727-232 with 79 passengers and en route from Miami to Tampa, is hijacked from Miami to Havana on August 18 after a man threatens to set fire to himself and to the airplane; the hijacker is seized by Cuban authorities upon landing.
In the fall, 11 Tri Star 1s are traded to Boeing for 33 more B-727-232As and a new passenger terminal is opened at New York (LGA) in October.
The last of 13 DC-8-61s to be reengined into DC-8-71s joins the fleet in November and, in December as part of the 33 aircraft lease arrangement, Delta receives the 1,000th B-737 constructed.
World History
