2. Here's the Delta sched...

DL 359: Chicago O'Hare (ORD) 9:15a - 10:10a St Louis (STL) 10:35a - 11:25a Memphis (MEM) 11:57a - 12:30p Little Rock (LIT) 12:50p - 1:09p Hot Springs (HOT) 1:29p - 2:05p Shreveport (SHV) 2:25p - 3:10p Houston Hobby (HOU)
Freq: Daily
Service classes: F/Y
Meal service: Breakfast snack in F only ORD-STL
Equip: D9S
Note: In June of 1969 this flight began serving Houston Intercontinental (IAH) following the opening of this then-new airport

Delta actually flew into little ol' Hot Springs for many years and inherited its HOT service from Chicago & Southern (C&S) following the merger of the two air carriers. In 1953, Delta (operating as Delta C&S at this time) was operating six departures a day from Hot Springs, all with DC-3 aircraft, with daily roundtrip routings of Chicago Midway - St. Louis - Memphis - Little Rock - Hot Springs - Shreveport - Beaumont/Port Arthur - Houston Hobby, Detroit - Toledo - Fort Wayne - Indianapolis - Evansville - Paducah - Memphis - Little Rock - Hot Springs - Shreveport - Beaumont/Port Arthur - Houston Hobby, and Memphis - Little Rock - Hot Springs - Shreveport - Beaumont/Port Arthur - Houston Hobby.

By 1966, Delta was operating just two departures a day from Hot Springs, both with Convair 440 aircraft, with a daily roundtrip routing of Memphis - Little Rock - Hot Springs - Shreveport - Beaumont/Port Arthur - Houston Hobby. Delta then retired its Convair 440 recips and introduced DC-9-30 service into HOT. However, the traffic was apparently quite sparse from Hot Springs and Delta subsequently ended its jet service into HOT after a relatively short time.