Delta Air Lines
Begun in 1928 in Louisiana as the Delta Air Service, the Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines is today the nation's third largest, with operations around the world. Through sound management it survived a competitive airline market in the 1930s; in the postwar era it modernized and expanded its fleet, gaining new service routes beyond the South through approval by the Civil Aeronautics Board and by corporate acquisitions. In the modern era of deregulation, which has seen the downfall of such historic carriers as Pan American (or Pan Am), Eastern Air Lines, and TWA, Delta Air Lines has prospered and grown. Indeed, Delta's growth paralleled, and helped fuel, the growth of Atlanta as a regional and national commercial center. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., combined with a slowdown in the U.S. economy, have imposed new challenges on the domestic airline industry, including Delta.