Delta Named Official Airline of Los Angeles' STAPLES Center, L.A. Kings and The GRAMMY® Museum

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 10, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and AEG, one of the world's largest sports and entertainment firms, today announced a new multiyear agreement to make Delta an official founding partner and official airline of STAPLES Center, an official partner of The GRAMMY Museum at L.A. LIVE and the official airline of the L.A. Kings. Delta will also gain a presence throughout the L.A. LIVE sports and entertainment district in downtown Los Angeles.

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Through the agreement, Delta will be recognized as an Official founding partner of STAPLES Center, which will include extensive signage rights and through Delta's affiliation with the Kings, will gain sponsorship rights inside and outside the arena throughout the season.  The Kings will promote Delta using its promotional outlets, on the web, through social media, and through traditional media outlets. As the official airline of The GRAMMY Museum, Delta receives naming rights to various major public programs and interior branding exposure in the museum and on all museum programs and related marketing programs.  In addition to its L.A. LIVE presence, AEG will also look to Delta to service more of its extensive global travel needs.  

"We are excited to welcome such a powerful brand and company as Delta Air Lines into the AEG family," said Bill Pedigo, AEG Global Partnerships Senior Vice President. "It is a tremendous thrill for us to partner with a company that has such a similar vision for providing superior customer service, creating long-lasting relationships with all facets of business and most importantly a strong desire to invest in Los Angeles."

Delta is one of Los Angeles' leading airlines, with nearly 90 daily nonstop flights to 28 destinations worldwide. During the last two years, Delta has expanded its schedule in Los Angeles by more than one third, adding additional international flights that include daily nonstop service to Sydney, Australia and Guadalajara, Mexico. Next weekend, Delta will begin nonstop service from Los Angeles to Tokyo's Haneda Airport, a preferred airport for business travelers due to its convenient location near central Tokyo. That service will be among the first trans-Pacific flights to Haneda in more than three decades.

Delta has also added domestic flights, with expanded service from Los Angeles to San Francisco, San Diego and Phoenix. The airline's robust Los Angeles service allows its international SkyTeam partners AeroMexico, Air France, China Southern, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air and West Coast codeshare partner Alaska Airlines to offer connections to and from Delta flights at Los Angeles International Airport.

"Los Angeles is an important gateway for our alliance network to and from points across the Pacific, and we are continuing to demonstrate our commitment to the L.A. community," said Tim Mapes, Delta's senior vice president – Marketing. "With our airport facility improvements, our new flights to Tokyo-Haneda and Sydney and our expanded marketing relationships, we are making our presence known in Los Angeles."

Delta operates at Los Angeles International Airport in Terminal 5, where it recently completed a renovation of its Sky Club to serve the growing number of international customers flying Delta through Los Angeles. It also invested more than $85 million, in partnership with LAWA, for terminal improvements and investments in service

The agreement with AEG follows Delta's announcement last month that it would become the official airline of the Los Angeles Lakers, and complements its sponsorship this weekend of the 53rd Annual GRAMMY® Awards. Delta's new sponsorships in Los Angeles are the latest additions to its portfolio of partnerships with professional sports teams and venues, including the Atlanta Braves, Minnesota Twins, Memphis Grizzlies, New York Knicks, New York Mets, New York Yankees, New York Rangers, New York Liberty, St. Louis Rams, Madison Square Garden, Yankees Stadium and Citi Field, among others.

About Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 357 destinations in 66 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. A founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance, Delta 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 13,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. The airline's service includes the SkyMiles frequent flier program, the world's largest airline loyalty program; the award-winning BusinessElite service; and more than 50 Delta Sky Clubs in airports worldwide. Delta is investing more than $2 billion through 2013 in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes, check bags and review flight status at delta.com.

About AEG

AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Anschutz Company, owns or is affiliated with a collection of companies including over 100 facilities such as STAPLES Center, The Home Depot Center (Carson, CA), Target Center (Minneapolis, MN), The Rose Garden (Portland, OR), Best Buy Theater (New York), Sprint Center, (Kansas City), Mercedes Benz Arena (Shanghai), MasterCard Center (Beijing, China), Acer Arena (Sydney, Australia), The Globe arena (Stockholm, Sweden), O2 World arena (Berlin, Germany) and The O2 arena and entertainment district (London, England); sports franchises and events under AEG Sports including the Amgen Tour of California, Los Angeles Kings (NHL) and two MLS franchises in addition to overseeing privately held management shares of the Los Angeles Lakers (NBA). AEG Live, the world's second largest concert, promotion and touring company, is comprised of touring, festival, exhibition, broadcast, merchandise and special event divisions with fifteen regional offices. AEG has created L.A. LIVE, a 4 million square foot / $2.5 billion downtown Los Angeles sports & entertainment district featuring Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE and Club Nokia, a 54-story, 1001-room convention "headquarters" destination (featuring The Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels and 224 luxury condominiums – The Residences at The Ritz Carlton – all in a single tower), the Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14, "broadcast" facilities for ESPN, along with entertainment, restaurant and office space.

About L.A. LIVE

L.A. LIVE is a one-of-a-kind sports, entertainment and residential district in downtown immediately adjacent to STAPLES Center and the Convention Center. The campus features Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE, The GRAMMY Museum, Conga Room and Club Nokia, giving L.A. LIVE more music per square foot than anywhere else in the world. The district offers a rich mix of local, regional and national restaurants including Wolfgang Puck Bar and Grill, Rosa Mexicano, The Farm of Beverly Hills, Yard House, Katsuya, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, Rock 'N Fish, Trader Vic's, ESPN Zone, Lawry's Carvery, New Zealand Natural Ice Cream and Starbucks. L.A. LIVE also serves as ESPN's West Coast broadcast headquarters. The campus is recognized worldwide for offering an incomparable and unforgettable entertainment experience.

SOURCE Delta Air Lines