Assessment Of An Organization : A Unique Form Of Growth Than Its Peers

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 airline uses merger so as to be able to expend its business. In 2008 the company merged with Northwest airlines. It operates in Europe, North America and Asia/Pacific regions. Once the merger was complete, Northwest Airlines and all its constituents become wholly-owned by Delta Airlines. The merger saw to it that Delta Airlines started operating in the Northwest for FY 2008. In the period of two month that is from October of 2008 the time the merger was completed to December of 2008, the company had increased it revenues to $2 billion. Having a flexible nature, allows Delta to improve customer services, and in the long run be able to achieve its strategic objectives.

The theory used in this report is “The Seven Traits of Successful Organizations” that covers seven important factors driven successful to the organization shown in the picture below (Schumann 1994)

Delta Airlines is the largest airline carrier on the Atlantic Coast. In terms of scheduled passengers carried they were world’s largest airline with 277.6 billion in 2013. Also the second largest

One of the five remaining legacy carriers, Delta is the sixth-oldest operating airline by foundation date, and the oldest airline still operating in the United States. The company's history can be traced back to Huff Daland Dusters, founded in 1924 in Macon, Georgia as a crop

Delta airlines began operations in the 1920s and since then has grown in size merging

Even though they have the leadership of an executive board, they are a publicly traded company with shareholders. “Delta provides scheduled air transportation for passengers and cargo throughout the United States and around the world.” (Delta Annual Report, 2013, pg. 2) This passenger and cargo business brought in a hefty $10.5 billion showing a $1.5 billion increase from 2012. As of December 31, 2013, Delta owned 592 aircraft. They had 94 on capital lease and 57 on operating lease bringing their fleet number to 743 total aircraft. Delta had commitments to purchase 147 more airplanes, lease 75 more and options for 42 additional aircrafts. Delta’s regional carriers, who they are partnered with, operate 532 aircraft. These partners are Endeavor Airlines, Express Incorporated, Sky West Airlines, Compass Airlines, Shuttle America Corporation, GoJet Airlines, LLC, and Chautauqua Airlines Incorporated. Delta also leases most of their land and occupied buildings. Their main offices are located at Hartsfield Airport in Atlanta which is leased from the city of Atlanta, Georgia. They own real property in Atlanta, Georgia, St. Paul, Minnesota, Minot, North Dakota, Chisholm, Minnesota, and Tokyo, Japan. Impressively, Delta is in every major domestic market and they use a hub and spoke system making it easier to reach all geographical regions in the

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.

This report provides an examinaion of the current structure, performance, stragergy and management of Delta Airlines, along with an industry analysis of the airline industry. The report uses current and past financial and statistical data for the company along with other up to date material to determine Delta's current market position and future potential.

1. Delta Air Lines first name was Delta Air Corporation in 1930. Years later, Delta Air Lines Inc. adopted their name by 1945. Delta Air Lines has its headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. Which is known as, if not the busiest, one of the busiest airports in the United States.

In 2011, the majority shareholder Michael Macknight was appointed CEO, he was the third in the company’s history.

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).

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

Delta Air Lines began in the early 1920’s as a crop dusting operation, known as the Huff Daland crop dusting company, and was based out of Macon, Ga. This was the first agricultural flying company in existence at the time and grew into the world’s largest privately owned fleet of aircraft (18 planes) by the mid 1920’s. At the turn of the decade, co-founder C.E. Woolman lead a movement to purchase Huff Daland and re-branded the company as Delta Air Service, named after the Mississippi River Delta region the company would navigate.

“Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 356 destinations in 65 countries on six continents.” (Delta.com).