W. David Lewis

Delta: The History of an Airline

Beginning in the 1920s as a crop-dusting operation in Louisiana, Delta Air Lines has grown to become one of the five largest companies in the industry and one of the most consistently profitable. This book focuses on the milestones of Deltas evolution, the personalities that contributed most significantly to the development of its strategy and style, the steady expansion of its routes, its relationship with federal regulatory agencies and the everchanging composition of its fleet. An attempt is made to explain those characteristics that have made Delta unique in an airline industry and to trace the growth of the family feeling that has consistently been the companys greatest asset.

The Delta–C&S Merger: A Case Study in Airline Consolidation and Federal Regulation

The road to merger is strewn with fortuitous events, surprises, and disappointments for most firms even under ordinary circumstances, but the airline industry following World War II faced special problems of postwar readjustment, rapid technological change, and government intervention by a Civil Aeronautics Board that was determined to shape the future of American commercial aviation. Congruence with federal regulatory policy was a key element in the success of the merger with which this essay deals.