Abstract: Delta Air Lines is the longest-running airline carrier which began in 1924. It was initially a crop-dusting company called Huff Daland Dusters. It has since become one of the world’s transportation leader in providing efficient, on-time air travel. The company has been based in Atlanta, where Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport serves as its largest domestic hub and primary base for flights to over 60 countries since 1941. However, that is not the only hub it has as it also operates four other hub locations in major U.S cities. (academicmind**) One of the successes of Delta is that the company understood one critical aspect that it needed to visit. In 1999-2000, Delta’s Technical Operations saw, “1) compliance system breakdowns 2) configuration control confusion 3) multiple independent information systems 4) individual at-risk behaviors, and 5) resource limitations”(efforts to make an SMS operation). Delta understood that it needed to create a system to reduce the frequency and severity of these events of occurring in their business. That being said, Delta is ranked second and fifth, respectively, in safety with a, “0.17 fatalities per million miles travelled and in an infinitesimal incidents percentage slightly higher than Southwest’s (0.0000386).” (traveltips.usatoday**) Their success could stem from their strong core values: honesty, integrity, respect, perseverance, and servant leadership. II. Delta’s efforts to make an SMS operation: Safety
This paper will give a historical overview of the company, discuss the ingredients to the company success, offer some financial strengths and present a final conclusion. Section I: Southwest's History Twenty-seven years ago, Rollin King, a San Antonio entrepreneur who owned a small commuter air service, and Kelleher, who was a lawyer at the time, got together and decided to start a different kind of airline. They began with one simple notion. If you get your passengers to their destinations when they want to get there, on time, at the lowest possible fares, and make certain they have a good time doing it, people will fly your airline. And you know what? They were right. Within those 27 years, Southwest Airlines became the fifth largest major airline in America. Today, they have flown over 50 million passengers a year to 54 cities all over the southwest and beyond. They do it over 2,300 times a day with over 267 of the newest jets in the nation and fly only one type aircraft; the B-737. The average age of their fleet is only 8.4 years and they own over sixty percent of them. In May 1988, they were the first airline to win the coveted U.S. Department of Transportation Triple Crown for a month - Best On-time Record, Best Baggage Handling, and Fewest Customer Complaints. Since then, they've won it
"Run the best airline in terms of operating performance. Deliver on customer promises so that the customer decides to fly with Delta first, and before anyone else. Run the airline to achieve the proper payers commensurate with the service that they provide. Delta really seems like they want a go-to airline in the marketplace for primarily business travelers, but also leisure travelers as well. And do all that in a safe and highly profitable manner."
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
Having been founded on May 30th 1924 Delta airlines is one of the only 4 legacy carriers still left in the aviation industry since the 1978 airline deregulation act. It is a major United States airline and its headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Delta airlines operates 5,000 flights every day of which are both domestic and international. Delta airlines hub is located at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta international airport which is considered the worlds busiest airport in accordance with passenger traffic which accumulates to over 91 million passengers per year. Its fleet consists of 722 airplanes and its
Delta Airlines was founded in Macon, Georgia, with the name of Huff Daland Dusters, which was a crop-dusting operation in the 1920s. Delta Airlines was the first commercial flying company in existence. Delta Airline has had many names over the years, but became “Delta Airlines, Inc,” in the 1940s after going to war. They had many first beginnings, to name more of those first beginnings: visual inspection with a portable x-ray machine, bring passengers to a hub airport, launch the Douglas DC-8 jet service, offer complimentary meals on coach flights, flew nonstop from Atlanta to Los Angeles, board one million passengers in one city in a month, baggage check-in service, and first to use moving maps. Besides all the first beginnings Delta Airlines had, they also merged with so many other companies over the years. Just to name a few of the companies that have come aboard with Delta over the years: Northwest Airlines, Pacific Airlines, American Overseas Airlines, Standard Air Lines, and North Central Airlines. Delta’s logo was unveiled in 1959 and is sometimes called the “widget.”
Delta airlines is the oldest operating airline in the United States, one of the five remaining legacy carriers, and a founding member of the SkyTeam airline alliance. It was founded as a crop dusting service company in 1924 in Macon, Georgia. Since its early years Delta airlines has gone through all the regulation changes from early years of commercial aviation to recent years, and has been highly influenced by the government laws.
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 key issue for compensation and benefit for Delta’s airline was labor expense through salary and wages for their employees. These issues raise for the increase in taxes and security fees, rising prices of fuel, labor management mistakes, and large executive perks. As a result Delta announced that they might have to file for bankruptcy protection if they did not cut salaries by 32.5%. As a result of this increase in labor cost, Delta was forced to lay off 11,000 employees, the change of many employees from full time to part time and outsourcing a great deal of their work. The organization's relationship with employees has been tense because of substantial layoffs, bankruptcy-proof pension trusts and executive bonuses which were not tied to performance.
In some respects they're comparing themselves to Home Depot because Frank Blake was on the Board of Home Depot and now he's on the Board of Delta. He's the champion for taking free cash flow and increasing the dividend, and this growth in the dividend and shareholder buybacks is the template that Home Depot kind of did for a long time here. And now he's trying to implement this from the Board at Delta. Home Depot would be one. You could throw out one of the better industrial company. People also talk about the railroads as well, and basically the consolidation in the industry. There's a corollary to the airlines as to the railroad
Delta Air Lines is a global airline, one of the largest worldwide. According to SkyTeam (2009), a worldwide alliance management team of ten members, the founding member Delta “serves about 928 destinations in about 174 countries; with approximately 455 million customers annually and offers 15,955 plus daily flights...as well as, code-sharing (airline networks consisting of selling tickets of a partnered airline team)”.
Now staffed with over 80,000 employees and servicing over 165 million customers a year, Delta is recognized as one of the top domestic and international airline companies (News.delta.com, 2014). Named one of the 50 most admired companies by Fortune this year; Delta Air Lines flies passengers to 64 countries on six continents and has over 700 aircraft (News.delta.com, 2014). Delta Air Lines business appears to be steady after experiencing many unprofitable years which stemmed from poor management decisions, over
Delta Air Lines’ long history of service actually began in agriculture, when the company was
The entire US airline business is facing the challenge of operating within a low-margin, high-fixed-cost environment. Its profitability is particularly sensitive to decreases in volume, either from environmental factors or from competition. Moreover, the airline business is labor-intensive. Labor costs as a percentage of revenues ranges from a low of about 25 percent for the low-fare airlines to almost 50 percent for the large, full-service airlines such as United. Delta Airline is the third largest U.S. airline in operating revenues and revenue passenger miles flown. Traditionally, the competition came from the other full-service airlines such as United Airlines and American Airlines. However, in recent years, the major
Cost, capacity management (load factor, turn time), channel management, differentiation, union relations and personnel management are success determinants in the industry. Pay cut negotiations with unions failed. In terms of integration with distribution channels, Delta has not caught up with Internet technology in order to reach the customers and share the benefits of omitting intermediaries with passengers. Delta has not differentiated itself by enhancing in-flight experience for passengers aligned with a “unique culture” leveraging its reputation.
Upon the commercialized of Delta Airlines, Inc., it is now headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Airline appears to be the right city for Delta Airlines because it is the world’s largest airline hub with over 1000 daily departures to 316 destinations. This reputable organization also has hubs in Cincinnati, OH; Detroit, MI; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; New York-LaGuardia, NY; New York-JFK, NY; Salt Lake City, UT; Seattle, WA; Paris-Charles de Gaulle, France; Amsterdam, Netherlands and Tokyo-Narita, Japan. Delta Airlines currently has around 800 aircraft for his services in over 57 countries where it operates.