A timeline of key events at Delta Air Lines

— June 17, 1929: Delta starts its first passenger flights over a route from Dallas to Jackson, Miss., via Shreveport and Monroe, La.

— March 1, 1941: Delta moves headquarters from Monroe, La., to Atlanta.

— April 17, 1957: Delta stock begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

— 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.

— 1982: After Delta suffers financial losses, employees raise $30 million in payroll deductions to purchase the first Boeing 767, named "The Spirit of Delta."

— 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.

— Nov. 1, 1991: Delta purchases substantially all of Pan Am's trans-Atlantic routes and the Pan Am Shuttle.

— 2001-2003: Delta eliminates roughly 16,000 jobs, or 21 percent of its work force compared to pre-Sept. 11 levels, by mid-2003.

— Feb. 6, 2003: Delta announces pay cuts for top executives.

— 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.

— May 10, 2004: Delta warns in regulatory filing that it may file for bankruptcy if it doesn't get deep concessions from pilots.

— 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.

— 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.

— Jan. 20, 2005: Delta blames persistently high fuel prices for a $2.2 billion fourth-quarter loss.