How the AJC covered Delta, Hartsfield-Jackson over their 100-year histories

For the last century, reporters at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and its predecessor papers have been covering its all-important aviation industry, its airport and its airlines.

The Atlanta airport wasn’t always the “world’s busiest‚” but the city’s political and civic leaders have always realized that aviation could — as the railroad before it — become its ticket to a spot on an ultimately global stage.

Delta Air Lines is the first U.S. carrier to reach its 100th year. While it has not always been the dominant Atlanta airline, it has been a prominent economic force since moving its headquarters here in 1941.

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Atlanta’s airport isn’t just busy — it’s basically Georgia’s second-largest city with its own zip code. Credit: Emma Hurt/AJC

Last year, Atlanta saw more than 108 million airline passengers, and its hometown carrier Delta controls nearly 80% of that traffic.

The former Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine marked the airline’s 50th year with a multipage spread, just as journalists have covered nearly every new development at its airport.

Credit: Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine

Credit: Atlanta Journal & Constitution Magazine

In 1961, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution in a headline heralded the “striking” new Atlanta Airport terminal as the “finest in world.”

Within its first year that new “jet age terminal” would be stretched past capacity. Less than 20 years later a new one would be built.

And this year the AJC has extensively covered the centennial of Delta, the metro’s largest private employer — alongside the centennial of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, also created in 1925.

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Key milestones for Delta Air Lines and Hartsfield-Jackson

March 1925: Huff Daland Dusters crop-dusting company is incorporated in Macon, Georgia.

April 1925: Atlanta Mayor Walter Sims signs a five-year lease on an abandoned racetrack to turn it into an airfield.

May 1925: C.E. Woolman, credited as Delta’s founder and first CEO, joins Huff Daland as chief entomologist.

July 1925: Huff Daland moves its headquarters to Monroe, Louisiana. to follow crop dusting demand.

Sept. 1926: A Florida Airways’ mail route is the first commercial flight into Atlanta’s Candler Field.

1928: Huff Daland is renamed “Delta Air Service” for the Mississippi Delta region it served.

Credit: AJC FILE

April 1929: Atlanta pays $94,400 for what became the Atlanta Municipal Airport.

June 1929: Delta operates its first passenger flight from Dallas to Jackson, Mississippi.

1930: Eastern Air Transport inaugurates Atlanta’s first continuous passenger service — to New York.

1934: Delta Air Service becomes Delta Air Lines.

1941: Delta moves from Monroe to Atlanta. It spends $150,000 on a hangar and office complex on the site of its current headquarters; the city chips in $50,000.

1955: Atlanta is the “busiest air transport hub in the world” between noon and 2 p.m.

Credit: BILL WILSON / AJC FILE

1957: Delta introduces the Sky Club precursor, Atlanta’s “Golden Crown Room.”

1961: Atlanta opens a new “jet age” terminal, then the largest in the country. Within its first year it is already past capacity.

Credit: Atlanta Journal

1971: The airport is renamed William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, after the long-serving mayor and aviation advocate, and introduces its first international flight to Mexico City.

1974: Atlanta’s first Black mayor, Maynard Jackson requires all municipal spending, including at the airport, have 25-35% minority- and women-owned business participation.

1980: Today’s domestic terminal opens as the world’s largest air passenger terminal at 2.5 million square feet. It was completed with a 25% minority participation and after moving an interstate.

1982: After struggles amid an energy crisis post-deregulation, Delta employees raise millions to purchase the company’s first Boeing 767, “The Spirit of Delta.”

1984: Atlanta’s fourth runway opens.

1988: MARTA’s airport station opens.

1991: Eastern Airlines liquidates. Delta purchases much of Pan Am’s trans-Atlantic routes and begins to grow into dominance in Atlanta.

Credit: AJC file

1994: Concourse E opens.

1996: Atlanta’s main terminal atrium opens in time for the Centennial Olympic Games.

1999: Hartsfield-Jackson becomes the “world’s busiest airport” after seeing 73.5 million travelers in 1998.

2001: U.S. airspace closes after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Delta posts its first financial loss in six years.

Credit: vwong@ajc.com

2003: The airport is renamed Hartsfield-Jackson to include the late Mayor Jackson. Delta launches Song, a low-cost airline that will dissolve three years later.

2005: Delta files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

2006: The fifth runway opens.

2007: Delta defeats a hostile takeover attempt by US Airways and emerges from bankruptcy.

2008: Delta acquires Northwest Airlines.

Credit: Delta Air Lines

2012: Atlanta opens the Maynard H. Jackson International Terminal and Concourse F.

2021: Atlanta loses its “world’s busiest” title for 2020 because of travel restrictions implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. It reclaimed the title in 2022 and has held it ever since.

2025: Hartsfield-Jackson and Delta both celebrate 100 years.