The story
The original Delta Technical Operations Center Jet Base, later known as Technical Operations Center (TOC) 1, opened on June 21, 1960 at Atlanta Municipal Airport (eventually renamed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport). This facility covered nine acres, employed 1,600 individuals and provided service exclusively to Delta Air Lines’ fleet of 79 aircraft, including nine jets. In May 1968, Delta TechOps completed its first expansion, increasing the total space by 7 acres and adding another 1,700 employees, more than doubling the size of the division’s workforce. In 1973, Delta TechOps added another 20-acre hangar, known as TOC 2, increasing the total acreage to 36. By 1982, more additions were needed to accommodate the growing business, and TOC 1 was expanded by another 10 acres.
Up until this point, Delta TechOps had only performed maintenance, repairs and overhauls on Delta Air Lines’ own fleet, but in 1983, the division began offering these services to other airlines. Today, third party business accounts for 20-25% of the division’s workload. The most recent facility expansion, a four-story, 17-acre addition known as TOC 3, was completed in 1991, bringing the total size of the facilities at Hartsfield-Jackson to 63 acres.
On September 14, 2005, parent company Delta Air Lines filed for bankruptcy, citing rising fuel costs. It emerged from bankruptcy in April 2007 after fending off a hostile takeover from US Airways and its shares were re-listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Delta TechOps generated revenues of more than $310M in 2006 and by 2009, this amount had reached the half-billion mark. In 2008, Delta TechOps received ISO 9001 certifications for its component maintenance shops. In 2009, Delta TechOps joined EPA's National Partnership for Environmental Priorities in committing to eliminate lead from machine shop operations and recycle 7,000 pounds of lead.
In 2011, Delta TechOps expanded its partnership with Skymark Airlines to provide advance exchange power-by-the-hour services for 25 CFM56-7B powered Boeing 737NG aircraft. Delta TechOps received ISO 9001 certification from the International Standards Organization for its engine maintenance and landing gear shops and is one of only a few airline maintenance, repair and overhaul service providers to achieve the certification. Delta TechOps invested in new MRO technology for engines to cut costs and boost revenue during 2012. In 2013, Delta TechOps and EmpowerMX signed an agreement to employ the cloud-based FleetCycle® MRO Manager product as the primary maintenance-execution tool in all of Delta TechOps airframe MRO facilities. In 2014, Delta TechOps expanded its maintenance providership with Hawaiian Airlines with an integrated component exchange and repair program for 12 Boeing 767 aircraft.
From Wikipedia’s article on Delta TechOps, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4