As Delta preps for 100th anniversary, it’s making big changes to its museum

The Delta Flight Museum will close its hangars Dec. 16 to reopen in March with new exhibits for the centennial

Second grade students from Hapeville Elementary School tour the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Volunteers from the business community at Hartsfield-Jackson airport filled a Boeing 767 aircraft with school supplies to gift to underserved students. (Arvin Temkar / arvin.temkar@ajc.com)

By Kelly Yamanouchi

Updated Nov 27, 2024

What’s nearly 100 years old, gets up and running before dawn each morning and works 365 days a year?

That would be Delta Air Lines.

Delta, Atlanta’s hometown carrier, will celebrate its centennial next year and has already started preparing to mark the milestone. The celebration will stretch throughout 2025, when Delta will become the first U.S. airline to reach the century mark.

In preparation, the Delta Flight Museum on the company’s headquarters campus near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport will temporarily close its museum hangars Dec. 16 to install “new exhibits, new stories from the past and a new museum experience overall,” according to the museum’s website.

Delta’s ‘747 Experience’ in Atlanta

In the meantime, the Boeing 747 plane exhibit in the parking lot will remain open for visits and events, along with the museum store. That means those who may have hoped to visit the museum over upcoming holiday break will not be able to see the main hangars of the museum.

Second grade students from Hapeville Elementary School board an airplane at the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta in 2022. Arvin Temkar/AJC

The full museum will reopen in March, when it will celebrate the founding of Delta as Huff Daland Dusters in Macon, which was incorporated in 1925. The birthday will be marked with a gala, followed by the reopening of the museum.

Huff Daland Dusters treated Georgia peach and pecan orchards and cotton fields for pests.

Within months, C.E. Woolman joined Huff Daland Dusters as chief entomologist, on a leave of absence from Louisiana State University’s Agriculture Extension Department, and the company moved from Macon to Monroe, Louisiana, to seek more work.

A few years later, Huff Daland Dusters evolved into an airline carrying passengers. That led to the formation in 1928 of Delta Air Service, which bought the assets of Huff Daland Dusters. The company was named for the Mississippi Delta region where it operated.

By 1941, Delta Air Service moved its headquarters to Atlanta, and by 1945 it is renamed Delta Air Lines. Woolman became known as a legendary founder of Delta, continuing on with the company and becoming president in 1945 and CEO in 1965. He died in 1966.

Delta dedicates executive office building to former CEO Jerry Grinstein

At the museum, curators have been planning exhibits for the centennial, scanning archival images and preparing artifacts for display.

Recent visitors to the museum may have noticed there was already some work underway inside the hangars, including paint, carpet and electrical work, to prepare for the construction.

“This is a major milestone project,” the museum said in a blog post on its website.

Fifth grade students from West Clayton Elementary School tour the Delta Flight Museum in Atlanta in 2022. Arvin Temkar/AJC

Delta has already been nodding toward its upcoming 100th birthday at events and in comments and framing it as a way to “embark on our next century of flying.” The airline told its SkyMiles frequent flyer program members that they can “expect even more ways to access experiences through Delta’s centennial year in 2025.”

Also next year, Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport will be celebrating its centennial, 100 years from the signing of the legislation that created the airport. The airport’s celebration will start in January, Hartsfield-Jackson’s interim general manager, Jan Lennon, said during remarks at a recent Atlanta City Council Transportation Committee meeting.

“This is exciting. Delta will be celebrating their 100th year. So there’s going to be a lot going on,” Lennon said.

Behind the two names of Atlanta's airport: Hartsfield and Jackson

A timeline of Delta’s history

1924: The Huff Daland Dusters crop-dusting operation is founded in Macon.
1925: Huff Daland Dusters is incorporated in Macon and moves to Monroe, Louisiana.
1928: C.E. Woolman, the principal founder of Delta Air Lines, buys Huff Daland Dusters and renames it Delta Air Service.
1929: The company, now called Delta Air Service, launches scheduled flights.
1941: Delta headquarters moves from Monroe, Louisiana, to Atlanta.
1945: Official corporate name becomes Delta Air Lines Inc.
1953: Chicago and Southern Air Lines merger gives Delta its first international routes.
1961: Delta flies first nonstop flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles.
1972: Northeast Airlines merges with Delta.
1987: Delta Air Lines absorbs Western Air Lines, making it the nation’s fourth-largest carrier.
1991: Delta purchases substantially all of Pan Am’s trans-Atlantic routes and the Pan Am Shuttle, making Delta a global carrier.
1999: Delta acquires Comair.
2008: Delta announces merger deal with Northwest Airlines.
2012: Delta buys an oil refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, to produce jet fuel and other fuel
2016: Ed Bastian becomes Delta’s 9th CEO, succeeding Richard Anderson.
2020: The COVID-19 pandemic causes airlines to slash flights globally, including Delta, which also cuts tens of thousands of people from its workforce through unpaid leaves, buyouts and early retirements. It takes years for the industry to recover.
2025: Delta will celebrate its centennial anniversary.

Source: Delta, AJC research

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify the years of Delta’s founding and incorporation as Huff Daland Dusters.

Delta Air Lines' first flight attendants started in 1940. The winter uniform consisted of a navy blue jacket and skirt, a cap. White gloves were also part of the official uniform. The uniform was purchased from Rich's department store in Atlanta, Georgia. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta's 1940 summer uniform was a beige jacket and skirt and a rust-colored, open-collared blouse. (Delta Flight Museum)

In 1942, flight attendants wore black jackets, skirts, caps and shoes. The winter uniform included a black tie. A white tuxedo-front blouse without a tie was required in summer. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta's flight attendant uniform shifted to a tan ensemble in the summer from 1943-1946. A tan cap and white, button-down blouse completed the look. This image is from 1945 on the apron of the then Atlanta Airport.

Male pursers briefly joined the crew in 1946 through 1948. They wore maritime uniforms. A purser and female flight attendant worked in teams. (Delta Flight Museum)

Military styling continued for the winter from 1947 to 1949, with a navy jacket, skirt, overseas cap and pumps. The white blouse had a jewel neckline. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta's summer uniform for 1947 was tan, as in 1946, but the skirts lost their pleating and the jackets went from two buttons to one. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta adopted a sorter cream Eisenhower jacket, white blouse and navy blue skirt in the summer from 1948-1953. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta continued navy blue suiting for winter from 1950-1956. Adjustments were made with narrower skirts and wider lapels on the jacket.

Light blue was the color for the summer from 1954 to 1965. Considered a "tropical weight," the uniform was worn year-round on international flights. (Delta Flight Museum)

Uniform coloring shifted to grey from the winter in 1956 and 1957. Black-and-white stiletto spectator pumps completed the look. (Delta Flight Musem)

Delta closed out the 1950s with a navy blue collarless jacket, narrow skirt, cap and navy stiletto pumps. (Delta Flight Museum)

Academy Award-winning designer Edith Head designed Delta's winter uniform worn from 1959-1965.

Delta's French blue crepe suit topped with a pillbox hat set the tone for winter, 1965-1968. The hat replaced the traditional overseas cap, which had been worn since the 1940s. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta shifted to an iridescent-green version of their winter suit for 1966-1968. (Delta Flight Museum)

Red and black were the colors for Delta winter uniforms in 1968-1970. (Delta Flight Museum)

Pastels and polyester-knit dresses made up Delta's summer uniforms from 1969-1970. Reversible serving smocks paired with the aquanox blue, grenelle green and sunshine yellow dresses. (Delta Flight Museum)

The 1970s brought about significant changes in Delta's flight attendant uniforms -- pants. Also, hats were no longer required. (Delta Flight Museum)

Male flight attendants joined Delta cabin in 1973. They wore navy suit jackets and gray pants with a red/white/blue striped tie. Female flight attendants wore classic blazers in blue or red. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta's female flight attendants could choose sky blue or camel leisure suits, wrap dresses, or traditional blazers, slacks and skirts from 1975-1979. (Delta Flight Museum)

In 1983, Delta established its longest-worn look of a tailored navy blue suiting. Flight attendants wore this uniform until 2001. (Delta Flight Museum)

In the 1990s, red jackets were added as an option to the blue uniforms. (Delta Flight Museum)

Navy blue gave way to charcoal gray and blue accents from 2001 to 2006. (Delta Navy Flight Museum)

The iconic red dress was introduced for Delta flight attendants in 2006 and was a staple until 2018. Starting in 2008, flight attendants could wear a pink version of the dress for Breast Cancer Awareness month. (Delta Flight Museum)

Delta launched its purple uniforms in 2018. Some Delta employees alleged that wearing their uniforms caused skin rashes, headaches, fatigue and other issues. Delta offered an alternative gray uniform for those who opted out of wearing purple. (Steve Schaefer / AJC)

Delta Air Lines unveiled new employee uniform prototypes. The navy blue and burgundy colors will eventually replace purple uniforms.(Delta)

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Delta Air Lines' first flight attendants started in 1940. The winter uniform consisted of a navy blue jacket and skirt, a cap. White gloves were also part of the official uniform. The uniform was purchased from Rich's department store in Atlanta, Georgia. (Delta Flight Museum)

About the Author

Kelly Yamanouchi

As business team lead, Kelly Yamanouchi edits and writes business stories. She graduated from Harvard and has a master's degree from Northwestern.

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As Delta preps for 100th anniversary, it’s making big changes to its museum

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