Y ou read that headline correctly: Southwest Airways is part of Delta Air Lines, according to the latest graphical family tree chart posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2015 at the official Internet web site for news pertaining to Delta Air Lines; and if you do not believe me, take a look and see for yourself…
…or perhaps you might have misinterpreted the headline and should take a second look at it.
Actually, Southwest Airways — not Southwest Airlines — was founded in 1946; and in 1958 became Pacific Air Lines. In 1968, Pacific Air Lines merged with Bonanza Air Lines and West Coast Airlines to become AirWest, which then became Hughes Airwest when the airline was purchased by Howard Hughes in 1970. Republic Airlines — which purchased Hughes Airwest in 1980 — was purchased by Northwest Airlines in 1986; and, of course, Northwest Airlines was acquired by Delta Air Lines in 2008.
I actually met an agent at a reservations call center of Delta Air Lines in Seattle in 2012 — only mere months before it closed — who told me that she began her career at Bonanza Air Lines, of which I had never heard until that point.
Another interesting fact is that both Northwest Airlines and Northeast Airlines eventually became a part of Delta Air Lines.
It is also nice to look at the history of logos of both Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines over the years.
One of the things I enjoyed viewing during the multiple visits I paid to the Delta Heritage Museum — now known as the Delta Flight Museum — over the years was viewing the graphical family tree chart of Delta Air Lines. Here is the version prior to the one which was recently improved and released:
For additional information and photographs pertaining to the Delta Flight Museum, please refer to these articles written by me:
- Delta Flight Museum: Photographs Inside Hangar 1 of the Official Venue of the 2015 Freddie Awards
- Delta Flight Museum: Photographs Inside Hangar 2 of the Official Venue of the 2015 Freddie Awards
- Delta Flight Museum: Photographs Outside of the Official Venue of the 2015 Freddie Awards
- The 2015 Freddie Awards: Hangar 2 of the Delta Flight Museum and The Spirit of Delta
- The 2015 Freddie Awards: A Map to the Delta Flight Museum
In the meantime, I hope that you enjoyed this little slice of airline trivia and history.
Source: Delta Air Lines. Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
