<p>Key dates in Delta Air Lines' history:</p><p>_June 17, 1929: Delta starts its first passenger flights over a route from Dallas to Jackson, Miss., via Shreveport and Monroe, La.</p><p>_March 1, 1941: Delta moves headquarters from Monroe, La., to Atlanta.</p><p>_April 17, 1957: Delta stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange.</p><p>_Aug. 1, 1972: Northeast Airlines merges with Delta. Delta becomes a major carrier in New York and Boston, with direct routes from New York and New England to Florida.</p><p>_1982: After Delta suffers financial losses, employees raise $30 million in payroll deductions to purchase the first Boeing 767, named "The Spirit of Delta."</p><p>_April 1, 1987: Delta merges with Western Airlines; becomes the fourth largest U.S. carrier and fifth largest in the world. First trans-Pacific service begins with flights to Tokyo. Ronald W. Allen becomes Chairman and CEO.</p><p>_Nov. 1, 1991: Delta purchases substantially all of Pan Am's trans-Atlantic routes and the Pan Am Shuttle.</p><p>_2001-2003: Delta eliminates roughly 16,000 jobs, or 21 percent of its work force compared to pre-Sept. 11 levels, by mid-2003.</p><p>_Feb. 6, 2003: Delta announces pay cuts for top executives.</p><p>_April 30, 2003: Delta proposes 22 percent pay cut for pilots and canceling of pilot pay raises due over the next year, according to union. Company later asks for 30 percent pay cut and other concessions. Pilots, meanwhile, offer a 9 percent cut and to forgo a 4.5 percent raise due in May 2004.</p><p>_May 10, 2004: Delta warns in regulatory filing that it may file for bankruptcy if it doesn't get deep concessions from pilots.</p><p>_Sept. 8, 2004: Delta says it will cut up to 7,000 more jobs over 18-month period and shed its Dallas-Fort Worth hub.</p><p>_Oct. 27, 2004: Delta, pilots reach tentative agreement on pay cuts and other concessions that will save airline $1 billion a year. Delta also gets $1.1 billion in fresh financing from creditors.</p><p>_Jan. 20, 2005: Delta blames persistently high fuel prices for a $2.2 billion fourth-quarter loss.</p><p>_July 26, 2005: Delta CEO says in memo that current transformation plan, which includes cutting annual costs by $5 billion by the end of 2006, is not enough to save the struggling carrier.</p><p>_Sept. 14, 2005: Delta files for bankruptcy.</p><p>_April 14, 2006: Delta pilots reach tentative agreement with management on a second round of pay and benefit cuts, averting a threatened strike by the pilots.</p><p>_Sept. 2, 2006: Effective date for termination of Delta pilots' defined benefit pension plan.</p><p>_Jan. 31, 2007: US Airways drops hostile takeover bid for Delta after Delta's unsecured creditors endorse Delta's standalone reorganization plan.</p><p>_April 30, 2007: Delta emerges from bankruptcy.</p><p>___</p><p>Source: Delta officials, SEC filings, public records, AP archives.</p>
