Which airline was founded in 1924 as Huff Daland Dusters?

Delta Air Lines was founded in 1924 as Huff Daland Dusters.

Huff Daland Dusters began operations in Macon, Georgia, in 1924. It was created to combat the boll weevil, an agricultural pest that damaged cotton crops, by using aircraft to spray pesticides over farmland. This made the company one of the earliest aerial crop-dusting businesses.

The company moved its operations to Louisiana and adopted the name Delta Air Service in 1928. The word “Delta” referred to the Mississippi Delta region served by its early routes. Passenger operations began on a route linking Dallas and Jackson, Mississippi, in 1929.

Delta later developed into a major scheduled passenger airline and eventually adopted the name Delta Air Lines. Its origins differ from those of many carriers that began primarily as mail or passenger operators. The modern airline’s historical identity is therefore rooted in agricultural aviation rather than an initial intercontinental network.