Delta Air Lines was founded in 1925 as Huff Daland Dusters, a commercial agricultural flying service based in Macon, Georgia. By 1927, the company had relocated its headquarters to Louisiana and boasted the largest privately owned fleet in the world. Crop-dusting operations extended from Florida to Arkansas and California to Mexico, and it operated the first international mail and passenger flights along the west coast of South America for Peruvian Airlines.

In 1928, C.E. Woolman, who joined the company in 1925, and Louisiana banker Travis Oliver purchased Huff Daland Dusters’ assets. The name “Delta” was coined by Catherine Fitzgerald, Woolman’s longtime assistant, inspired by the company’s location in the Mississippi Delta region of the United States. For the next seven years, Delta Air Service expanded both mail and passenger service across the southern United States. In 1934, the name changed one final time to Delta Air Lines. 

When the Second World War erupted, Delta modified 916 of its own aircraft and overhauled more than 1,000 engines and instruments as part of the war effort. It also trained U.S. Army pilots and mechanics, and operated cargo routes to serve the military.

The 1940s saw Delta lauded with accolades, including recognition from the National Safety Council for 10 years of service without a passenger or crew fatality, the one-millionth passenger, and the first nonstop flight from Chicago to Miami.

In 1953, Delta merged with Chicago and Southern Air Lines and began to offer international flights to the Carribbean and Caracas. Continuing its efforts to expand available routes, Delta pioneered the hub and spoke system in 1955. The practice, now ubiquitous in the airline industry, involves flights from smaller airports delivering passengers to large central airports to make connections for longer trips.

Visit the Delta Flight Museum

The 9/11 attacks rocked the global economy and the airline industry, leaving no carrier unscathed. Delta faced an uncertain future on a long road to financial recovery in the wake of the 2001 attacks. In 2005, the company filed for bankruptcy. Two years later, U.S. Airways attempted a hostile takeover, but Delta prevailed, emerging from its bankruptcy filing and refiling on the New York Stock Exchange in 2007. Not only did the airline succeed financially, but it also led all network carriers in on-time performance.

Along the road to recovery, Delta offered service to more destinations around the world than any other airline, including 124 nonstop routes, in 2006. After an expanded trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France–KLM in 2009, Delta became the only U.S. airline to serve six continents, introducing non-stop flights from Los Angeles to Sydney, Australia. Delta also completed the integration of Northwest Airlines’ frequent flyer program, which it had acquired the year before, into its SkyMiles program, creating the world’s largest customer-loyalty program.

Fortune named Delta one of the most admired companies in 2014. In addition to being a global industry leader, the airline is a beloved employer. In 1982, after Delta suffered significant financial losses, employees raised US$30 million in payroll deductions to help the airline purchase its first Boeing 767, “The Spirit of Delta.” In 2016, under the leadership of CEO Ed Bastian, Delta paid its 84,000 employees US$1.5 billion in profit shares, the most in U.S. history to that point. In 2020, the airline delivered US$1.6 billion in profit share to employees. As of 2016, Delta committed 1% of its yearly net income to charities.

Beginning in March 2020, Delta committed itself to carbon neutrality. One if the company’s goals it is to replace 10 percent of its jet fuel with sustainability aviation fuel by the end of 2030. Waste reduction is another key component of Delta’s commitment to sustainability, including reduction of single-use plastics, making the most of recyclable materials, on-the-ground donations of food, blankets, amenity kits, and other provisions; and even upcycling 50,000 pounds of old uniforms for waste-to-energy recovery.