“Anywhere You Want to Go”
Team Delta:
Isaac Gange - Christa Peterson/Goff - Daniel Gordon - David Tanner
Delta
Contents
S.W.O.T. Analysis……….………………………………………………………………….. 3
Social and Economic………………...……………………………………………………… 4
Marketing, Production, and Distribution……………………....……………………………. 7
Accounting and Finance…………………………………………………………………….. 10
Management Philosophy and Practice………………………………………………………. 14
Ethical Stance and Social Responsibility………………………………………………….... 18
Reference…………………………………...……………………………………………….. 21
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S.W.O.T. Analysis
Strengths:
 Delta’s partnership with Virgin Australia Airlines brings destinations to six
continents.
 Delta’s membership in the Skyteam Alliance partners them with many other
international airlines bringing available destinations to more than 140 countries.
 Delta’s merger with Northwest Airlines dramatically expands their aircraft fleet and
makes Delta the biggest airline in the world.
Weaknesses:
 Delta received the number one worst Airline Quality Rating (AQR) for a domestic
carrier in 2009 at -1.73.
 Delta has the highest oversized baggage check fee at $175 (vs. $100 at US Airways
and United Airlines.)
 Most consumer complaints at 2.23 per 100,000 enplanements for a domestic carrier in
2009.
Opportunities:
 Shanghai Airlines, under its parent company China Eastern, is going to join Skyteam
Alliance, providing more destinations in Asia.
 Aerolineas Argentina is also working toward becoming a member of the Skyteam
Alliance, which will provide destinations throughout Argentina.
 Delta is expanding Skymiles partnerships to include Hertz, Fedex, 1 800 Flowers, and
more.
Threats:
 Southwest Airlines online ticket sales with planned merger.
 Continental Airlines quit the Skyteam Alliance last October and joined the Star
Alliance in order to better compete against Delta.

Delta lost a bid for JAL (Japan Airlines) to join Skyteam Alliance, they instead joined
with American Airlines, threatening Delta’s strength in pacific flights.
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Social and Economic History
Delta Airlines, the worlds’ largest airline carrier started its long history as an agricultural
crop dusting company. During the 1920’s a pest known as the boll weevil made its way from
Mexico up to the Mississippi. It was then that Huff Daland Company saw an opportunity to
become the world’s first agricultural flying company and rooted its business in Macon, Georgia.
However, after an unsuccessful first season, due to lack of cotton fields, Huff Daland relocated to
Monroe, Louisiana in 1925. It was also during this year that Huff Daland purchased 18 planes
and became the world’s largest privately owned fleet. Their dusting service went as far south as
Florida up to Arkansas, and west to Mexico and California.
It was during 1928 that Huff Daland was purchased and changed to Delta Airlines. Delta
received its name from being located along the Mississippi Delta. D.Y Smith became Delta’s
first president with C.E Woolman as Vice President. Under leadership of D.Y Smith and C.E
Woolman, Delta Airlines performed its first passenger flight from Dallas, Texas to Jacksonville,
Mississippi. The year 1930 brought trouble to Delta as Post Office Department had awarded the
badly needed airmail contract for the Southern route to a rival airline; however they won back
the bid for the contract in 1834.
During the 1940’s Delta both moved their headquarters and innovated new ideas to
improve their service. In 1940 Delta “introduced flight attendants in which they called
stewardesses.” In 1941 Delta again relocated its headquarters to Atlanta, Georgia where it
remains today. In 1945 Delta become the first airlines to be recognized by National Safety
Council for more than 300 million passenger miles and 10 years of flight without a passenger or
crew fatality and C. E. Woolman became President and General Manager and Delta officially
became Delta Airlines Inc.
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The 1950’s was a decade of international expansion for Delta Airlines. In the year 1953
“Chicago and Southern Air Lines merger brings Delta its first international routes (to the
Caribbean and Caracas).” In 1955 Delta initiated the Hub system to bring travelers to a central
point so that they can connect to other flights.
During the 1970’s, Delta experiences more expansion and control over the commercial
passenger aviation through the merger of Northeast Airlines in 1972. This merger allowed them
to become a “major carrier in New York and Boston.” After 50 years of leading the world in
aviation, Delta Airlines celebrates 50 years of service in 1979. During the 1980’s Delta once
again expands its service and creates a better customer loyalty through new programs. In 1980
Delta pioneers a computer reservation system, (CRS) to expedite customer reservations. To
create customer loyalty, Delta begins their “Frequent Flyer Program, which is changed to
SkyMiles in 1995.” In 1987 Delta expands once again through the merger of Western Airlines.
The 1990’s bring a stepping stone for Delta, making them the premier global carrier. In
1991 “Delta purchases substantially all of Pan Am's trans-Atlantic routes and the Pan Am
Shuttle, making this the largest acquisition of flights in airline history thus making Delta a global
carrier.” In 1995 Delta’s new MD-11 is painted in Olympic color scheme as they are officially
appointed as the Airlines of the Olympics and carrying the Olympic torch from Athens to
Atlanta, Georgia in 1996.
The year 2000 ushers in a new millennium and lots of financial hardships for Delta. In
2000 Delta launches its official Delta.com website making it easier for customers to view flight
information and ticketing. However, with the unforeseen terrorist attack of September 11, 2001
Delta is forced to suspend all air travel for two days resulting in their first financial loss in six
years. Delta celebrates its 75th anniversary of passenger travel in 2004 and returns back to the
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original Delta widget and “improves its customer service and ramp operations to be more
efficient with a new automated load instruction system for baggage.” During the year of 2005,
Delta Airlines files for chapter 11 Bankruptcy. However in 2007, after two years of company
reorganization, Delta emerges from Bankruptcy and relists themselves in the stock market. With
the current year 2010, Delta plans to further their customers experience by investing one billion
dollars into customer accommodations, such as in-flight monitors into every head rest, more full
laying beds and ticketing options on networking websites (Delta Airlines News Room and
History of Delta Airlines).
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Marketing and Production
With signs of recession still showing this year, Delta is left with a big decision to be
made concerning marketing budgets. Does it make more sense to boost spending to stimulate
demand, or is it wiser to cut back in order to save money. The airline business marketing survey
carried out in 2009 says that more than 60% of survey respondents agree that when it comes to
marketing during an economic downturn, it is better to “invest more in marketing to try and
stimulate demand”.
What is marketing? “Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying,
anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”.
All corporations small and large must start with a marketing strategy. Then move on to a
marketing plan. The Frequent Flyer Program (FFP) used by Delta Airlines as a marketing
strategy is one example. In 1981 Delta began first started its Frequent Flyer Program awarding
new member enrollment bonuses of 10,000 miles. The main goal for this FFP was to increase
seat sales by generating repeat business and by encouraging new customers to become long-term
customers. Customer service is very important in FFP programs and quality management needs
to remain under strict airline control. In 1995 Delta renamed its Frequent Flyer Program to
Skymiles and changed some of its policies including adding an expiration for unused miles if
there was no account activity for three years. This new policy only effected new miles earned
after the policy was put in place, allowing miles earned under the old policy to have no
expiration date. Policies were changed again in 2007 which set the expiration date of unused
miles at two years with no account activity. Also under this new policy all unused miles under
all previous programs were effectively rolled into this new policy eliminating all previous no
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expiration and three year expiration miles, bringing all miles under the two year expiration
policy.
Another marketing campaign on a global scale has been an alliance with AeroMexico,
Air France and Korean Air called Skyteam Alliance. Skyteam Alliance has a successful FFP
with Skymiles and the best growth potential of any global alliance. Currently, Delta offers their
Skymiles bonuses on all Delta and partner Skyteam Alliance flights as well as many other
airlines including carriers from Hawaii, Brazil, and China. In 2006 Delta’s Skymiles program
was chosen as the best frequent flyer program by the Best in Business Travel Awards.
SkyTeam offers customers worldwide access and convenience. Other benefits include
Sky Clubs which give members worldwide access to comfortable airport lounges with free
drinks, wifi. This membership also gives them access to other Skyteam partner’s lounges. Sky
Club memberships can be purchased with Skymiles as well as money.
Delta Airlines marketing strategies focus on the quality of their services. They tend to
focus on how they are providing the best possible service over the competition.
One of Delta’s newest marketing campaigns, with partner Air France KLM, focuses on
their transatlantic flights for business travelers. They plan to launch the campaign with an
interactive wall at Heathrow’s terminal five. The campaign will showcase comfort with their
new flat-bed seating and entertainment. The flat-panel wall screen activates anytime someone
walks past and will show key destination information as well as allowing people to play
interactive games that showcase products and services focused toward business travelers on their
transatlantic flights (m-travel.com, 2010).
In late October 2010, Delta came out with a new ad campaign called "Keep Climbing." As
part of this project, a New York City-based commercial was launched that depicts the human
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factor of this huge airline company. The modern black and white commercial displays a montage
of various Delta workers while the narrator talks about how hectic travel can be these days. The
clenching phrase of the commercial is “So every challenge, really, is a chance to show that even
in this crazy world of non-liquids, take your shoes off, cost cutting, and route cancelations,
someone in the industry still has the passenger’s back." This campaign focuses on the customer
service aspect of Delta.
The ads are true to what Delta is willing to offer customers. Within the past 6 months,
Delta has been training the customer service representatives to be more lenient on policies like
fee waivers and the offering of compensation. The executives are encouraging front-line agents
do everything possible to make the customer happy, when a customer calls in to make a
complaint. This could mean offering the customer a Delta travel voucher, bonus SkyMiles or
free access to a Sky Club. By empowering agents to have the ability to offer compensation, it
prevents the customer from being transferred to a supervisor and having to explain their situation
all over again which can be frustrating. Delta wants the customer have resolution when
something goes wrong and not feel like they have been walked on. When a customer feels like
they have been take care of, they are more likely to repeat business.
The reason Delta has chosen this avenue of Marketing is because Delta's image to
everyone is how big they are. It is true; the capacity of Delta grew immensely with the merge of
Northwest. Also, with the merge of United and Continental Airlines it feels like we are in a
trend of huge airline companies. When a company grows so large, customers might feel they are
lost in the crowd, and their business is non-important.
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Accounting and Finance
In 1928 C.E. Woolman, made a financial decision to buy the company Huff Daland
Dusters, a crop dusting operation, and renamed it Delta Air Service for the Mississippi delta
region. That act began what we know today as the largest airline company in the world. Delta
Airlines flies to several different hubs1 including, Salt Lake City, New York, Paris, Amsterdam,
and Tokyo. The number of planes they operate is somewhere around 960. With that amount of
flights constantly buzzing through the air they consumed 3.8 billion gallons of fuel in 2009. That
cost their company 8.3 billion dollars or about 22.5 million dollars a day. By looking at the
evolution of the company you can see that they have changed dramatically, and it all began when
C.E Woolman and investors made a financial decision.
By 1930, Delta Air Service began their passenger services. They acquired one new and
two used single engine monoplanes that were just big enough for six passengers. Each passenger
paid nearly twenty-seven dollars for the flight and the taxi ride to and from the airport.. Gas
prices were at an all time high at 18 cents a gallon and Delta was flying more than ever before.
During WWII the company modified over 1,000 aircraft and engines for the U.S. Army, also
they trained Army pilots and mechanics. That greatly increased their revenue, which allowed
them to expand internationally in the 1950’s, and at that time they developed the idea of the hub
which is now the standard for international travel.
Delta continued innovating and flowing with new ideas by swiftly launching the
first Convair 880 jet service in 1960. This strategic move put them in place for another twenty
years of financial success, but in the early 80’s Delta became a smaller company and suffered
financially. Despite the loss to Delta, employees helped the company by deducting their own
payroll to purchase “The Spirit of Delta”, a new Boeing 767 costing 30 million dollars. Ten
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years later, in 1991, Delta purchased Pan Am and saw large profits because of it at the end of
their fourth quarter in1995. Six years later Delta was affected by a loss shared by each airline
company. In September of 2001 The New York City Twin Towers were attacked by men flying
planes. Fear caused a loss of about eighteen billion dollars for the global airline industry in
2001. This event caused a chain reaction which resulted in Delta claiming bankruptcy just three
years down the road in 2004. In 2007 the bankruptcy court reviewed Delta’s plan of
reorganization and let them emerge from their bankruptcy.
Just one year later, on October 29, 2008, Delta completed the merger with Northwest,
creating the world’s largest airline. Delta now offers service to 378 worldwide destinations in 66
countries, and climbing, and expects to serve more than 170 million passengers each year. For
2008, Delta reported a consolidated net loss of $8.9 billion, which reflects (1) a $7.3 billion noncash charge from an impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets, (2) $1.1 billion in
primarily non-cash Merger-related charges, (3) significantly increased fuel costs and (4)
weakened demand due to the onset of a global recession.
Fuel is one of Delta’s most significant costs. Accordingly, they reduced capacity by 5%
in the second half of the year compared to their 2008 plan. As part of this capacity reduction,
Delta removed 31 aircraft from the operating fleet, of which 22 have been sold or returned to the
leasers and nine remain temporarily grounded or held for sale.
In 2009, Delta expected to use approximately four billion gallons of jet fuel. At that level
of consumption, a $1 change in the average annual per barrel price of crude oil can impact our
financial results by approximately $100 million.
Here is a look at Delta’s fuel expenditures over the last three years:
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Year:
Gallons of fuel:
Cost:
2009
3,853,000,000 gallons
$8,291,000,000
2008
2,740,000,000 gallons
$8,686,000,000
2007
2,534,000,000 gallons
$5,676,000,000
Fuel prices have increased substantially since the middle part of the last decade and
spiked at record high levels in 2008 before falling dramatically during the latter part of 2008. In
2009, the average fuel price per gallon was $2.15. In 2008, the average fuel price per gallon was
$3.16, a 41% increase from an average price of $2.24 in 2007, which in turn was significantly
higher than fuel prices just a few years earlier. Fuel costs represented 29%, 38%, and 31% of
Delta’s operating expense in 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively.
Demand began to slow during the December 2008 quarter and global economic
conditions in 2009 substantially reduced U.S. airline industry revenues in 2009 compared to
2008. As a result, Delta reduced their consolidated capacity by 6% in 2009 compared to the
combined capacity of Delta and Northwest during 2008. Demand for air travel could remain
weak if an economic recovery is slow or even fall further if a recession returns. Overall demand
could fall lower than we are able prudently to reduce capacity. The weakness in the United States
and international economies is having a significant negative impact on the results of operations
and could continue to have a significant negative impact on Delta’s future results of operations.
A strategy to keep fuel costs stable is by committing to a fuel hedge contract. It allows
Delta to pay a predetermined price for future jet fuel purchases.
Avg Jet Fuel Equivalent *(at today’s fwd curve)
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Quarter: Percent:
HedgedCap: Floor:
Fuel Price/Gal*:

Q1 2009 80%
$2.81
$2.43
$2.34

Q2 2009 85%
$2.45
$2.09
$2.17

Q3 2009 55%
$2.19
$1.22
$2.10

Q4 2009 32%
$2.24
$1.05
$2.00
*Includes tax and transportation costs of approximately $0.17/gallon.
Delta owns 677 passenger aircraft and 306 more are leased, giving them a total of 983
passenger aircraft. In their 2009 annual report they list that they have commitments for the
purchase of 18 more.
Delta’s accounts as of December 31, 2009:
Total assets:
$43,539,000,000
Total Debt:
$17,198,000,000.
Total Operating Revenue: $28,063,000,000.
Total Operating Expense: $28,387,000,000.
Three big carriers Wednesday turned in third-quarter profits, and one of them, Delta Air
Lines Inc., predicted it will post its first fourth-quarter profit in a decade. Delta shares jumped
11% to $12.97 on the New York Stock Exchange Oct 21, 2010, and Delta's revenue jumped 18%
to $8.95 billion.
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Management Philosophy and Practice
Delta Airline's business structure is a Corporation which became official in 1934. Its
Board of Directors makes up a unique group of people. The story of Richard H. Anderson
represents how thorough education and determination can place someone in a CEO seat.
Richard H. Anderson has been Chief Executive Officer of Delta since September 1, 2007. He
began as a lawyer, but got into the airline industry starting with Continental Airlines. His
recognition became known after a Continental Airlines flight crash that killed 28 of the 82
passengers. With his legal background, he was appointed the legal representative at the crash
site. He also represented Continental during the hearing of the National Transportation Safety
Board. In 1990 Richard Anderson began working at Northwest Airlines as the Senior Vice
President which turned out to be a 14-year endeavor. The merge of Delta and Northwest is how
he became CEO of Delta. It was a tough act to follow, becoming Delta’s 8th CEO, after Gerald
Grinstein who is known for "saving the company." As far as the other executives, Edward H.
Bastian has been President of Delta since September 1, 2007. Roy J. Bostock has been the nonexecutive Vice Chairman of Delta’s Board of Directors since October 29, 2008. He is also on
Yahoo's board of directors. John M. Engler has served as President and Chief executive Officer
of the National Association of Manufacturers since 2004. He was also once the Governor of the
State of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. Daniel A. Carp has served as non-executive Chairman of
Delta’s Board of Directors since April 30, 2007. Mickey Foret has been President of Aviation
Consultants LLC for about 8 years. Kenneth C. Rogers, a Delta pilot since 1990, is currently a
Boeing 737-800 First Officer. Rodney Slater who owns the Washington Nationals baseball was
also involved with politics and worked with Bill Clinton. Clearly, everyone has come from
different backgrounds and industries to make up an interesting population of executives.
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It was Gerald Grinstein (Delta’s 7th CEO) who had the difficult task of pulling Delta
through very hard times after September 11th. On September 15, 2005 Delta became the 9th
largest company to file for bankruptcy. During this time, Northwest and United Airlines were
also in the process of bankruptcy. Besides September 11th, there were problems with the
management of Leo F. Mullin who was the CEO before Gerald Grinstein. There had been
controversies of him asking employees to take pay cuts while he and other executives were given
large bonuses. In 2004 Mullin stepped down as CEO. It took time to re-build trust and support,
but with Mr. Grinstein’s determination, Delta was able to emerge from the Bankruptcy on April
30, 2007. Many financial gurus were astounded of how quickly Delta was able to pull out of it.
Of course, this was not without cost for many employees who struggled with lower paychecks.
Mr. Grinstein also took a large pay cut which won many support of many in the company and
they began to trust his strategies. During this time Gerald Grinstein was earning much less than
other airline executives. Many employees followed his example and were willing to take sever
pay cuts and furloughs to help support the company through this rough time. Even though Delta
pulled through, they lost a large amount of business because they were seen as unstable. They
were almost bought out by other airlines on a couple of occasions as well.
The airline industry is very competitive and Delta has to find a balance between making
money and ensuring customers are happy. There are always customers who say, “If you don't
change things, we will start flying other airline companies!” They ask for Richard Anderson’s
phone number or e-mail address to make complaints. Delta Air Lines is very strict with certain
policies. It is not easy to have a fee waived or have any sort of exception granted. Delta has
some of the highest baggage fees and has not ranked well in a few surveys lately. Customers
believe that Delta should not “nickel and dime” their customers as much.
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Delta Airlines offers many incentives to find employees and keep the current ones
motivated. In the reservations sales department, future employees are informed of job openings
through www.delta.com, where open positions are posted. If the application is accepted, the
person is asked to come in for an interview. After a few days the applicant will be notified if
they were hired or not. There is also hiring within the company which allows employees to
further their career. Delta offers many incentives and contests for both the reservation sales
department and service department. For the sales department employees are given up to $100
per pay check if their sales goals are met. In the ticket service department, employees are
offered incentives for maintaining call handing time goals, quality assurance scores and other
call statistics. They are given points that go towards gift cards and things like books and DVD’s.
Delta offers a yearly profit sharing bonus within the company which usually equates to a bonus
of an additional full paycheck. Also, if certain goals are met each month such as low numbers
of, baggage handling errors, delayed flights, and cancelled flights, each employee can receive up
to $100 each month. The most prominent incentive to work for Delta Air Lines is the free flight
benefits. Any Delta employee has the ability to travel the world. The flight benefits with Delta
are some of the best in the industry. Employees travel on “space available” terms which mean
they will only be granted a seat if a paying passenger has not purchased the seat or they happen
to miss the flight. Seniority in the company determines where employees end up on the standby
list. Other airline’s employee standby statuses are determined by the position the employee
holds. A manager will board the aircraft, first, over a sales associate which Delta does not agree
with. Delta puts customer service agents on the same level as managers when it comes to flight
benefits.
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There are definite connections to the social values of the culture in which the business
operates. The one thing that is threatening to change 80 years of business is the IAM Union. The
reason this has become a current issue is because of the Delta-Northwest merge. Northwest was
completely unionized for many years with IAM. Because of this, former Northwest employees
may be more inclined to vote yes for the union since because that is what they become
accustomed to. Delta’s stance is for a non-unionized company which allows for a close
relationship between managers and associates and freedom to offer creative incentives. If the
Union is voted in, everything has the potential to change including standby travel, health
benefits, salaries, and general day-to-day operations.
To conclude Delta Air Lines is managed by a diverse group of people who try to find that
fine line between running a successful airline and ensuring customers loyalty. There have been
some controversies in the past and other difficult times which they have been able to overcome.
Delta offers many incentives which give employees the encouragement to perform well. Only
time will tell with the current issue of the Union. It is amazing what 80 years has built in this
company.
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Ethical Stance
Delta Airline's mission statement says the following, “We, Delta's employees, customers,
and community partners together form a force for positive local and global change, dedicated to
bettering standards of living and the environment where we and our customers live and work.”
Delta works hard to ensure that this mission statement is fulfilled, that because of their work we
can live in a better place. Because Delta is a worldwide company, and employs over 75,000
workers, Delta can have a powerful impact in the world. Throughout this section we will
evaluate what Delta has done to ensure that it's mission statement is fulfilled.
Being the large company that Delta is, it can create a large amount of waste. Because of
that, Delta, on June 1, 2007, created the industry's first comprehensive in-flight recycling
program. Delta alone through this program has recycled huge amounts of waste products that
otherwise would have simply polluted the earth. As of April 22 2010 the program has recycled:
3.7 million pounds of newspaper, magazines, cardboard, plastic cups, plastic bottles and
aluminum cans. To illustrate what this can equate to they have: recycled a volume of paper
equivalent to 2,413 cubic yards of landfill space; recycled enough mixed plastic to save 605
barrels of oil; and recycled roughly 40 million aluminum cans. Those are very impressive
statistics. Very few companies can match Delta with the amount of recycling that they have done.
Truly this program shows Delta's concern for the environment and fulfills their mission in,
“Bettering the standards of living and the environment where we [all] live and work.”
However Delta does much more to contribute to the world than simply recycle. Delta has
been deeply involved with a charitable foundation known as, “Habitat for Humanity.” Habitat for
Humanity is a, “Nonprofit, ecumenical Christian ministry founded on the conviction that every
man, woman, and child should have a decent, safe and affordable place to live(Habitat for
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Humanity).” They build simple, affordable homes for low-income families all around the world.
They build homes in the United States, Canada, Africa, Philippines, Chile, and many other
countries. They always do their best to ensure the house is of good quality, and to the cultural
standards where the homes are built. They make sure to build sustainable, energy efficient, longlasting, and healthy homes. With the help of volunteers they build homes for the 2 billion people
around the world who live in slum housing and poverty. Their disaster response program also
helps those affected by war and natural disasters to have safe, temporary housing while they
recover. By donating to this foundation, Delta truly fulfills their mission statement by bettering
the standards of living all around the world. Delta is a huge contributor to this cause.
One thing Delta has done to improve standards for their employees and their customers
are making additions such as Wi-Fi internet access on planes, and their inflight entertainment.
Although this may seem to be a much more superficial contribution compared to their recycling
program and donations to Habitat for Humanity, it has greatly improved the luxury one feels inflight. The Wi-Fi is was installed on August 5, 2008 and is supplied by a company known as
Gogo. This allows passengers to use the internet while the travel on Wi-Fi capable devices such
as laptops and cellphones. Delta has the largest fleet of aircraft with Wi-Fi in the world. This
guarantees that those who work in national, and international business can continue their work
while in the air. This fulfills Delta's mission statement by bettering the standards of the
environment where their customers work. Delta's in-flight entertainment also carries out the
mission statement because it creates more comfort during flight. In many airplanes of Delta's
fleet, all the chairs in the aircraft are equipped with a touchscreen monitor that allows you to
access movies, television shows, music, and games. So although this is a more frivolous
standard, it does improve the standard of the workplace for both employees and customers.
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Another way Delta has improved standards for those in the workplace is what is known
as Delta's, “SkyMiles,” and, “SkyBonus,” programs. SkyMiles is Delta's frequent flyer program
that was created in 1981. This program enables passengers to earn, “miles,” with every paid
flight. You can then buy flights for a value equal to the miles you have accumulated. This helps
those who travel frequently to save money by earning points towards flights. This is also a great
business move to gain and keep customers. SkyBonus, created on November 27, 2001 is a
program similar to SkyMiles but is geared towards small to medium-sized businesses rather than
individuals like the SkyMiles program. It is for companies that spend anywhere between $5,000 $500,000 annually on flights. Just like SkyMiles, businesses can earn points toward free travel
and upgrades. They may also purchase Sky Club memberships and earn SkyMiles Silver
Medallion. Perhaps the best part of the SkyBonus program is that the individual traveling may
earn points while the company earns points as well for the trip.
On August 2, 1985, on route from Fort Lauderdale - Dallas - Los Angeles a Delta
Lockheed L-1011 aircraft crashed due to a severe microburst induced wind shear. There were
134 killed, and 27 were left injured. Delta acted quickly to this incident making many changes
to their aircrafts and flight procedures to ensure safety during flights. Delta began training pilots
to better handle microbursts and wind shears. They began weather casting to guarantee that they
were always on a safe route during flight. Also they started searching for and detecting wind
shears to make sure they were avoiding these dangers and to warrant safety during flight. This is
evidence to Delta's disposition to quality, and their willingness to satisfy all those they serve.
Which validates the positive reputation that Delta has received from its customer's and peers.
Other measures have been taken to guarantee safety from things as terrorism. Metal detectors,
security officers, and other additions have been made since the 9/11 terrorist attacks to allow
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comfort and assurance that we are secure and protected.
Through the examples given we can see that the Delta's business moves have been in line
with it's ethical standards. Being that Delta is a world-wide company it has many cultural
boundaries to overcome, and social expectations to satisfy. They have done just that. Being the
world's largest airline is proof that they have gained the world's trust. Of course Delta is not a
perfect company, it has had is fair share of difficulties, and has made mistakes, but Delta has
definitely pushed to stay ahead in the market to have financial success as well as success with it's
satisfied customer's. Delta has made a very positive contribution to society, and will continue to
do so. Delta does it's best to fulfill it's mission statement, which is to improve the standards of
living and the environment, and we can be sure, Delta has made a large contribution to improve
the standards in our society and in the marketplace.
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Reference
About Habitat for Humanity -- Habitat for Humanity Int'l . (n.d). Habitat for Humanity Int'l.
< http://www.habitat.org/how/default.aspx>
Anderson, R. (2007). Above the Horizon. Atlanta, Georgia: Salter Creative.
Chris Kilroy (n.d.) Special Report: Delta Flight 191, Airdisasters.com.
<http://www.airdisaster.com/special/special-dl191.shtml>
Delta, Inc. (n.d.). Skybonus Worldwide Sites, Delta Skybonus Incentive Program.
<http://skybonus.delta.com/bizCoFAQ.sb>
Delta Airlines Investor Relations (2010) Delta 2009 Annual Report.
<http://images.delta.com.edgesuite.net/delta/pdfs/annual_reports/2009_10K.pdf>
Delta Airlines Investor Relations (n.d.) Director’s Code of Ethics and Business Conduct.
<http://www.delta.com/about_delta/investor_relations/corporate_governance/directors_c
ode_ethics/index.jsp>
Delta Airlines Newsroom - Press Kit. (n.d.). Delta Air Lines Newsroom - Newsroom.
<http://news.delta.com/index.php?s=18&cat=39>
Delta and Air France KLM launch experiential marketing campaign (September 29, 2010)
m-travel.com <http://www.m-travel.com/news/2010/09/delta-and-air-france-klm-launchexperiential-marketing-campaign.html>
History of Delta Airlines. (n.d.). aviation history, history of flight, century of flight.
<http://www.century-offlight.net/Aviation%20history/coming%20of%20age/usairlines/Delta%20Airlines.htm>
Matthew C. Cordon (n.d.) Leo F. Mullin. Reference for Business.
<http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/M-R/Mullin-Leo-F-1943.html>
Morningstar (n.d) Roy J. Bostock. Forbes.com.
http://people.forbes.com/profile/roy-j-bostock/25781
Rick Newman (May 20, 2007) Delta Takes Flight. US News.
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/biztech/articles/070520/28eedelta.htm
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