History of Delta Air Lines
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Delta Air Lines is a major American airline.[1][2] The company's history began with the world's first aerial crop dusting operation called Huff Daland Dusters Inc., founded in 1925 in Macon, Georgia[3] to combat the boll weevil infestation of cotton crops.[4] C.E. Woolman, general manager and later Delta's first CEO, led a group of investors to acquire the company's assets. Delta Air Service was incorporated on December 3, 1928, and named after the Mississippi Delta region.[5][6][7][8]
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Passenger operations began in 1929, from Dallas, Texas, to Jackson, Mississippi, soon extending east to Atlanta and west to Fort Worth, Texas.[9] Passenger service ceased in October 1930 when the air mail contract for the route Delta had pioneered was awarded to another airline. Woolman and other investors incorporated the former crop-dusting assets of Delta Air Service as Delta Air Corporation in 1930. The company began doing business as Delta Air Lines, carrying mail from Fort Worth to Charleston, South Carolina.[9][10][3] The company's name was officially changed in 1945.[11]
Through the 1950s and 1960s, Delta was the first airline to fly the Douglas DC-8, Convair 880, and McDonnell Douglas DC-9 aircraft. By 1970, it had an all-jet fleet. Trans-Atlantic service began in 1978 with the first nonstop flights from Atlanta to London. In 1990, Delta was the first airline in the United States to fly McDonnell Douglas MD-11 jets. It became the leading trans-Atlantic airline after acquiring the majority of Pan American World Airways' trans-Atlantic routes.[8][12]
The company filed for bankruptcy in 2005, citing rising fuel costs.[13][14][15] It emerged from bankruptcy in 2007 after fending off a hostile takeover from US Airways.[16][17][18] In 2008, Delta acquired Northwest Airlines, which continued to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta until December 31, 2009.[19] The two companies' computer reservations systems and websites were combined in 2010, and the Northwest Airlines brand was officially retired.[20]