Delta Day of Hope Airport Walks Commemorate American Cancer Society's 100th Birthday

Employee, customer efforts strive to raise more than $1 million during the month of May

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May 01, 2013, 10:15 ET

ATLANTA, May 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines' (NYSE: DAL) fourth annual Delta Day of Hope will take place at more than 70 airports around the world on May 2 to celebrate the 100th birthday of the American Cancer Society and raise more than $1 million toward the effort to end cancer.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO)

Delta Day of Hope is modeled after the American Cancer Society's popular Relay For Life and will take place inside airport facilities Delta serves around the world including Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Detroit; London; Los Angeles; Nagoya, Japan; Madrid; Minneapolis-St. Paul; New York; Rome; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Seattle; Tokyo; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

"We are proud of the enthusiasm and generosity of our employees in the more than 70 cities around the globe who will help raise public awareness in support of the fight against cancer as we honor the commitment and dedication of the American Cancer Society as part of their 100th birthday this month," said Gil West, senior vice president – Airport Customer Service and Delta TechOps and Delta's executive sponsor for the American Cancer Society. "Delta takes our mission to raise $1 million very seriously and we want to do our part to end to a disease that's touched all of us."

In addition to the airport walks, two events will take place in Atlanta. The first is a Jet Drag at the Delta TechOps facility on May 3. The Jet Drag is an airplane-sized tug-of-war between teams of employees and a Delta Boeing 757 aircraft. The teams pull the jet 20 feet to determine who can move it in the shortest amount of time. The second event will take place at Delta's corporate campus and consists of a walk that will include hundreds of employees, family, friends and members of the local community.

Delta also will donate $1 to the American Cancer Society for the first 50,000 new luminarias lit on the Delta Facebook page through the end of May. With Delta's Light to Finish the Fight application and awareness promotion, visitors have the opportunity to create a virtual luminaria in honor or in memory of loved ones who have been affected by cancer, share it with their friends and build additional awareness of American Cancer Society's fight to end cancer.

Starting this month and continuing throughout the year, a Boeing 767-400 will travel the globe featuring American Cancer Society's 100th Anniversary logo with the phrase "The Official Sponsor of Birthdays" near the nose of the aircraft, adjacent to the boarding door. The aircraft flies international routes and will raise awareness for American Cancer Society in Europe, Latin America and the United States.

The American Cancer Society recognized Delta with its 2012 Distinguished Corporate Achievement award for having raised more than $500,000 in the fight to end cancer last year. Delta participated in its first Relay For Life event in 2000.

About The American Cancer Society
The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers saving lives and fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society's efforts have contributed to a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. since 1991, and a 50 percent drop in smoking rates. Thanks in part to our progress nearly 14 million Americans who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will celebrate more birthdays this year. As we mark our 100th birthday in 2013, we're determined to finish the fight against cancer. We're finding cures as the nation's largest private, not-for-profit investor in cancer research, ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air, and more. For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

About Delta
Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. Delta was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2013 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list, topping the list for the second time in three years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 317 destinations in 58 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta is investing more than $3 billion in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta and Facebook.com/delta.