100 YEARS OF DELTA AIR LINES
FAIRCHILD-HILLER FH- 227C ( 1972-1974 )
Northeast ’ s FH-277C fleet came to Delta after the airlines merged on August 1 , 1972 . FH-227C was the only turboprop passenger type Delta ever used ( it also operated the turboprop all-cargo Lockheed L-100 ). DL sold the FH-227C fleet to Air New England in December 1974 .
PAUL ZOGG COLLECTION
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS DC-10 ( 1972-1988 )
On March 18 , 1971 , Delta ordered five DC-10s . It then sold them to United Airlines and leased them back from October 1972 to May 1975 . On December 15 , 1972 , Delta started DC-10 service from Atlanta to New York-LaGuardia and , when it launched Lockheed L-1011 service in late 1973 , it became the first airline to simultaneously operate three of the first-generation wide-bodied jets — the Boeing 747 , Douglas DC-10 , and L-1011 . When it merged with Delta , on April 1 , 1987 , the airline acquired 12 DC-10s from Western Airlines , although it quickly phased them out by December 1988 .
DELTA FLIGHT MUSEUM
BOEING 727 ( 1972-2003 )
Delta started Boeing 727 operations with 21 model -100s and early-model -200s acquired through its 1972 Northeast Airlines merger . The -100 variant flew for just five years ; the carrier retired the last of the type in 1977 . Delta ’ s Boeing 727-200 fleet , however , peaked in 1982 with 129 aircraft — the largest fleet in the world of this type of aircraft . The trijet was used to phase out the Convair 880s as well as the DC- 8-50s and DC-9-10s . Eventually , Delta would be the last major US carrier to fly the Boeing 727 , with its last commercial flight with the type , from Greensboro , North Carolina , to Atlanta , taking place on April 6 , 2003 .
BEN WANG
18 AIRWAYS MAGAZINE APRIL 2025 www . airwaysmag . com