Essay on Airline Portfolio: Delta Air Lines Analysis

Delta Airlines in a major American airline company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company was founded on May 30, 1924. They operate as an extensive domestic and international network. Delta currently operates a fleet of more than 700 aircraft and they employ approximately 80,000 people. In 2011 they were the world’s largest airline in terms of fleet size. Delta Airlines is a very successful company. Part of what makes them so successful is expansion, making good decisions in route selection and hubs location, being service oriented, having a strong operation management, being reactive in terms of prices, and offering low fares.

Delta Airlines initially started out as a very small crop dusting operation named Huff Daland Dusters in 1942 (Delta, 2016). Today, Delta has become one of the largest global airlines with serving more than 160 million travelers each year (Delta, 2016). Delta airlines provide both domestic and international flights to customers to 318 destinations over a span of six continents. They also have nine domestic hubs and three international hubs (Delta, 2016).

merger it with Northwest Airlines without leaving any negative impact on the company. As a result of his plan, the company earned $34 billions of any U.S. carrier. During his rule, the company did not have any cancelled flights in 161

With over eight hundred aircrafts, over one hundred seventy million customers each year, and flights to over fifty-seven countries, Delta Airlines has proven to be a large and powerful global company. Delta Airlines began in 1924 as Huff Daland Dusters, which was a crop-dusting and mail service operation and the first commercial agricultural flying company in existence. C.E. Woolman purchased Huff Daland Dusters in 1928 and changed the name to Delta Air Service. The company then had its first passenger flight the following year, which carried five passengers and one pilot. After four years of suspension of passenger flights, they resumed in 1934 and renamed the company once again to Delta Airlines. Delta started building their reputation as a socially conscious company when they took part in the war effort in 1942, by modifying their aircraft and training army pilots and mechanics.

American Airlines was founded in the 1930’s, under the name of American Airways, after acquiring 80 small airline carriers (Koenig 2011), mainly used for mail services. Charles Lindbergh was noted as flying the first American Airlines flight, which carried mail from St. Louis, MO to Chicago, IL (American Airlines 2016). After nearly 10 year of flying mail, the name was changed to American Airlines, and became the first airline to fly passengers from New York to Chicago, in a Douglas DC-3; this was the “plane that changed the entire airline industry, switching revenue sources from mail to passengers (American Airlines 2016). American Airlines continued to revolutionize passenger flight service, by offering non-stop transcontinental flights across the United States in 1953. In 1981, American Airlines joined other major airlines in the hub-and-spoke system, and created their first hub at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, the same location as their headquarters. They expanded to new hubs throughout the 1980’s to other cities throughout the United States, Europe and Japan.

Delta Airlines first came into existence in the 1920’s as The Huff Daland Dusters crop-dusting operation, which formed the roots for Delta and was founded in Macon, GA. This was the first commercial agricultural flying company in existence. By 1934, the company began operating as the charter we know today as Delta Airlines and began its first passenger services. By 1981 Delta launched its first frequent flyer program, which became known as the SkyMiles program in 1995. Recently, Delta has announced it will be changing the terms and services for members of the SkyMiles loyalty program. This has caused a large uproar among many Delta frequent fliers, especially the budget-conscious Delta loyalists, many of whom spend

"Southwest and Delta. Southwest has a differentiated business model and is able to offer a better service at a lower cost across the markets it serves, allowing it to sustain a higher level rate of return. Delta has a better network than the other network carriers American and United, and has a better understanding of how to maximize the revenue potential within the cabins and the service it's flying."

The first was with Chicago and Southern Air Lines which took place in 1953. This merger allowed Delta to offer their first international flight route. This route was from New Orleans to Caracus, Venezuela. With this merger Delta Air Lines also incorporated Flying Colonel, which was Chicago and Southern’s customer recognition program. In 1972 Delta became the fifth largest airline in the United States after the merger with Northeast Airlines. In 1987 after 60 years in service Western Airlines merged with Delta Air Lines. Delta Air Lines most recent merger was with Northwest Airlines in 2008. At the time of the merger Western Airlines was the top cargo company in the United States.

* Through it 2 last merger with Northwest and virgin airline, Delta become the second largest airline of passengers

Frontier Airlines as we know it today has had a very interesting history. From getting its start following World War II, to grow into a great regional airline for the mountain west. With expansions, mergers, recessions, and a crippling blizzard, the airline would eventually would be; bought out, declare bankruptcy and have all assets sold off, ending the airline. However, the airline would start over essentially from scratch and grow into the ultra low-cost carrier we know today.

Employee loyalty has been key to Delta’s success. For example, in 1982 the company was going through financial struggles and in order to help, their employees took a voluntary pay cut. The company used the proceeds to purchase their first 767 aircraft, which they called “Spirit of Delta” ("Delta Airlines: Flying High in a Competitive Industry”).

Delta Air Lines first started as an “aerial crop dusting” or “pesticide spray service,” also known as the “Huff Daland Dusters” in 1924. In 1928, the company name was changed to Delta Air Lines and was now recognized as one of the largest airline services in the world (“About Delta,” 2016; “Delta Airlines,” 2016). In fact, it is ranked as the third biggest airline in the US and it is an exceptional U.S service that offers flight to African states. In 2000, the company joined the “SkyTeam Alliance that included other airlines, such as the Air France, Korean Air and Mexicana Airlines (“Delta Airlines,” 2016).

Hope Airlines being the subsidiary of Delta Airlines responded to yearning of customers for not having frequent schedule not only in summer month but all year round, indeed we investigated and discovered that money was passing us without noticing. Ultimately, came the decision to create another service airlines to meet the needs of the customers.

The level of competition in the airline industry is high. The big airlines essentially fly to the same places out of the same airports for about the same prices. The amenities, or lack of amenities, they offer are similar, and the seats in coach are just as cramped no matter which airline you choose. Delta's traditional rivals include United and American, but the company also faces major competition from the growing popularity of value carriers, most notably Southwest but also JetBlue and Spirit. Because the air travel experience for a customer is remarkably similar no matter which airline he takes, airlines are constantly threatened by the prospect of losing passengers to competitors. Delta is no exception. If a customer is planning to book

In 2012, Delta Air Lines had emerged like the phoenix, from the ashes of a 2008, Chapter 11 bankruptcy to become the second largest airline worldwide. Through its network of operations, Delta provides air transport both domestically and internationally for cargo, mail, and passengers. In the past, Delta successfully utilized mergers and acquisitions to increase its market share and grow its existing service base. Since 2012, Delta has been aggressively seeking out new opportunities for further growth in a volatile market with high price elasticity and low brand loyalty. The 2008 merger with Northwest Airlines left Delta with higher long-term debt, making Delta vulnerable limited debt assumption required for future growth.