DAL Company Profile

An important characteristic of our route network is our hub airports in Atlanta, Cincinnati, Dallas/Fort Worth and Salt Lake City. Each of these hub operations includes Delta flights that gather and distribute traffic from markets in the geographic region surrounding the hub to other major cities and to other Delta hubs. Our hub and spoke system also provides passengers with access to our principal international gateways in Atlanta and New York — John F. Kennedy International Airport (“JFK”). As briefly discussed below, other key characteristics of our route network include our alliances with foreign airlines; the Delta Connection Program; the Delta Shuttle; Song™, our low-fare service; and our marketing alliance with Continental Airlines, Inc. (“Continental”) and Northwest Airlines, Inc. (“Northwest”).

International Alliances. We have formed bilateral and multilateral marketing alliances with foreign airlines to improve our access to international markets. These arrangements can include codesharing, frequent flyer benefits, shared or reciprocal access to passenger lounges, joint promotions and other marketing agreements.

Our international codesharing agreements enable us to market and sell seats to an expanded number of international destinations. Under codesharing arrangements, we and the foreign carriers publish our respective airline designator codes on a single flight operation, thereby allowing us and the foreign carrier to offer joint service with one aircraft rather than operating separate services with two aircraft. These arrangements typically allow us to sell seats on the foreign carrier’s aircraft that are marketed under our “DL” designator code and permit the foreign airline to sell seats on our aircraft that are marketed under the foreign carrier’s two-letter designator code. As of March 1, 2004, we have codeshare arrangements in effect with Aerolitoral, Aeromexico, Air France (and certain of Air France’s affiliated carriers operating flights beyond Paris), Air Jamaica, Alitalia, Avianca, British European, China Airlines, China Southern, CSA Czech Airlines, El Al Israel Airlines, Korean Air, Royal Air Maroc and South African Airways.

Delta, Aeromexico, Air France, Alitalia, CSA Czech Airlines and Korean Air are members of the SkyTeam international airline alliance. SkyTeam links the route networks of the member airlines, providing opportunities for increased connecting traffic while offering enhanced customer service through mutual codesharing arrangements, reciprocal frequent flyer and lounge programs and coordinated cargo operations. In 2002, we, our European SkyTeam partners and Korean Air received limited antitrust immunity from the U.S. Department of Transportation (“DOT”). The grant of antitrust immunity enables us and our immunized partners to offer a more integrated route network, and develop common sales, marketing and discount programs for customers.

Delta Connection Program. The Delta Connection program is our regional carrier service, which feeds traffic to our route system through contracts with regional air carriers that operate flights serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities. The program enables us to increase the number of flights in certain locations, to better match capacity with demand and to preserve our presence in smaller markets. Our Delta Connection network operates the largest number of regional jets in the United States.

We have contractual arrangements with six regional carriers to operate regional jet and turboprop aircraft using our “DL” code. ASA and Comair are our wholly-owned subsidiaries, which operate all of their flights under our code. We also have agreements with Atlantic Coast Airlines (“ACA”), SkyWest Airlines, Inc. (“SkyWest”), Chautauqua Airlines, Inc. (“Chautauqua”) and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. (“Eagle”), which operate some of their flights using our code.

Our contract with Eagle, which is limited to certain flights operated to and from the Los Angeles International Airport, as well as a portion of our SkyWest agreement, are structured as revenue proration agreements. These prorate arrangements establish a fixed dollar or percentage division of revenues for tickets sold to passengers traveling on connecting flight itineraries.

Delta Shuttle. The Delta Shuttle is our high frequency service targeted to Northeast business travelers. It provides nonstop, hourly service between New York - LaGuardia Airport

(“LaGuardia”) (Marine Air Terminal) and both Boston — Logan International Airport (“Logan”) and Washington, D.C. — Ronald Reagan National Airport (“National”).

Song. On April 15, 2003, we introduced a new low-fare operation, Song, that primarily offers flights between cities in the Northeastern United States, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Florida leisure destinations. As of March 1, 2004, Song offered 144 daily flights using a fleet of 36 Boeing 757 aircraft. Song is intended to assist us in competing more effectively with low-cost carriers in leisure markets through a combination of larger aircraft, high frequency flights, advanced in-flight entertainment technology and innovative product offerings.

Delta-Continental-Northwest Marketing Alliance. We have entered into a marketing alliance with Continental and Northwest which includes mutual codesharing and reciprocal frequent flyer and airport lounge access arrangements. Our marketing relationship with Continental and Northwest is designed to permit the carriers to retain their separate identities and route networks while increasing the number of domestic and international connecting passengers using the three carriers’ route networks.

Competition

We face significant competition with respect to routes, services and fares. Our domestic routes are subject to competition from both new and existing carriers, some of which have substantially lower costs than we do and provide service at lower fares to destinations served by us. We also compete with all-cargo carriers, charter airlines, regional jet operators and, particularly on our shorter routes, surface transportation.

The continuing growth of low-cost carriers, including Southwest Airlines Co. (“Southwest”), AirTran Airways, Inc. (“AirTran”) and JetBlue Airways Corporation (“JetBlue”), in the United States places significant competitive pressures on us and other network carriers.

Our ability to compete effectively with low-cost carriers and other airlines depends, in part, on our ability to achieve operating costs per available seat mile (“unit costs”) that are competitive with those carriers. Our unit costs are significantly higher than those of Southwest, AirTran and JetBlue and have gone from being among the lowest of the hub-and-spoke carriers to among the highest for the full year 2003. If we are not able to realign our cost structure to compete with that of other carriers, or if fare reductions are not offset by higher yields, our business, financial condition and operating results may be materially adversely affected.

International marketing alliances formed by domestic and foreign carriers, including the Star Alliance (among United Airlines, Inc. (“United”), Lufthansa German Airlines and others) and the oneworld alliance (among AMR Corporation (“American”), British Airways and others), have significantly increased competition in international markets. Through marketing and codesharing arrangements with U.S. carriers, foreign carriers have obtained access to interior U.S. passenger traffic. Similarly, U.S. carriers have increased their ability to sell international transportation such as transatlantic services to and beyond European cities through alliances with international carriers.