Delta Connection
Delta Connection is a brand name under which Delta Air Lines has air service agreements with domestic regional air carriers that feed traffic to their network by serving passengers primarily in small and medium-sized cities in the domestic market, allowing a better match of capacity with demand in these markets. These include Delta's wholly owned subsidiary Endeavor Air and its third-party contractors Republic Airways and SkyWest Airlines. These agreements are primarily capacity purchase arrangements, where Delta controls scheduling, pricing, reservations, ticketing, and seat inventories for the flights. Delta is entitled to all ticket, cargo, mail, in-flight, and ancillary revenues from these flights, while paying the regional airlines a defined amount based on their operating costs and market rates. These capacity purchase agreements are typically long-term, often lasting at least ten years with an option to extend. Some agreements grant Delta the right to terminate or remove certain aircraft for convenience at specific future dates. Additionally, SkyWest Airlines operates some flights under a revenue proration agreement, which divides the revenue for connecting flight itineraries based on a fixed dollar or percentage division. A scope clause agreement between Delta Air Lines and its mainline pilots union, the Air Line Pilots Association, limits the number and size of aircraft that may be flown by Delta Connection.
Key facts
History
Delta Connection was founded in 1984 as a means of expanding the Delta network to smaller markets via partnerships with regional airlines.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) began Delta Connection service on March 1, 1984, from their hub at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and soon had a substantial presence at Delta's hub at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport. ASA was a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines under the Delta Connection, Inc., holding company from May 11, 1999, to September 7, 2005, when it was purchased by SkyWest, Inc., the parent company of SkyWest Airlines.
Ransome Airlines operated Delta Connection flights in the northeast from March 1, 1984, to June 1, 1986, when it was purchased by Pan Am.
Comair began Delta Connection service on September 1, 1984. Comair primarily operated from Delta's hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport which was established the same year. Comair also began operating Delta Connection service from Delta's hub at Orlando International Airport in 1987. In January 2000, Comair became a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines.
Rio Airways operated Delta Connection flights from their hub in Dallas/Fort Worth from June 1, 1984, to December 14, 1986, when the airline declared bankruptcy. ASA subsequently became the main Delta Connection carrier at the Dallas/Fort Worth hub.
Business Express Airlines operated Delta Connection flights in the northeastern US and Canada from June 1, 1986, to March 15, 2000. The company was purchased by AMR Corporation in 1999 and integrated into the American Eagle Airlines system in 2000.
Following the acquisition of Western Airlines by Delta Air Lines, SkyWest Airlines, which had been operating codeshare service flying as Western Express for Western, became a Delta Connection carrier on April 1, 1987, primarily operating from their hub at Salt Lake City International Airport, which Delta inherited from Western.
Trans States Airlines operated Delta Connection flights from March 1998 to March 31, 2000, mainly from their focus cities in Boston and New York.
In 2002, Chautauqua Airlines became a Delta Connection carrier and replaced Comair as the main provider of regional flights at the Orlando hub.
On November 2, 2004, Atlantic Coast Airlines ended service as a Delta Connection Carrier. Atlantic Coast Airlines reinvented itself as a low fare carrier called Independence Air, based at Washington Dulles International Airport. Atlantic Coast Airlines operated over 30 Dornier 328JET aircraft as part of its Delta Connection service from 2000 until 2005.
On December 22, 2004, Delta Air Lines announced that Republic Airways would order and operate 16 Embraer 170 aircraft under the Delta Connection banner. Since then, it has been announced that the Republic Airways subsidiary Shuttle America would operate the flights. The initial flight took place on September 1, 2005. On May 4, 2005, Delta Air Lines announced that Mesa Air Group subsidiary Freedom Airlines would operate up to 30 Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft under the Delta Connection banner beginning in October 2005. Shortly after the announcement, the decision was made for Freedom Airlines to operate the Embraer ERJ 145 for Delta Connection instead of the CRJ. After a legal battle with Mesa Air Group, Delta and Freedom Airlines terminated their contract, ending all flights on August 31, 2010. On December 21, 2006, Delta announced that Big Sky Airlines would become a Delta Connection carrier, using eight Beechcraft 1900D turboprops out of Boston Logan International Airport.
On March 1, 2007, it was announced that ExpressJet would operate 10 Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft under the Delta Connection banner beginning in June 2007 on flights from Los Angeles International Airport. It was later announced that ExpressJet would operate an additional eight aircraft as Delta Connection. On July 3, 2008, Delta and ExpressJet announced that they had terminated their agreement and that ExpressJet operations as Delta Connection would end by September 1, 2008. On April 30, 2007, it was announced that Pinnacle Airlines would operate 16 Bombardier CRJ900 under the Delta Connection banner starting in December 2007.
Merging Delta Connection and Northwest Airlink
The merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines meant that Northwest's regional brand, Northwest Airlink, would be merged into Delta Connection. The new Delta Connection would include the regional airlines from both the original Delta and Northwest. On November 8, 2008, Delta and Mesaba Airlines, a fully owned regional subsidiary of Northwest Airlines that operated flights as Northwest Airlink with turboprop aircraft and also with regional jet aircraft, announced that the seven CRJ900 aircraft previously operated by Freedom as well as eight new-order aircraft would be operated for Delta Connection beginning February 12, 2009.
Citing cost reductions, Delta Air Lines sold former Northwest Airlines regional subsidiary Mesaba Airlines on July 1, 2010, to Pinnacle Airlines Corp. for $62 million. Its headquarters were moved to Pinnacle's in Memphis on December 26, 2011.
Its airports
Its main hubs
Other airports in its network
Route network according to OpenFlights (open route database). It may not reflect recent schedule changes.
Data from Wikidata (CC0) · summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Delta Connection. Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/delta-connection
MLA
“Delta Connection.” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airline/delta-connection. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Delta Connection.” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/delta-connection.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Delta Connection. Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/delta-connection (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airline_delta_connection,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Delta Connection}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/delta-connection},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/delta-connection}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airline/delta-connection |title=Delta Connection |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}Types it operates · 389 aircraft · 3 models
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