Touching down in Lima: Delta pulls off its inaugural direct flight from SLC to South America

KEY POINTS

Delta Air Lines completed its inaugural direct commercial flight from Salt Lake City to South America.

Red-eye flight to Lima was filled to capacity.

Utah government and business leaders celebrated historic flight with state's growing Peruvian community.

LIMA — Aviation has celebrated several historic firsts over the past 122 years, including:

Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first engine-powered flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903.

Charles Lindbergh successfully completing the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1927.

And in 1976, the Concorde taking flight, cutting through the skies at twice the speed of sound.

Now Peruvians in Utah — and many more connected to the South American community from across the Western United States — have their own historic “flying first” to