Delta Seeking $1b From Pilots?

[Hatu]

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Delta Air Lines will ask its pilots for more than $1 billion a year in concessions when talks resume in the next few weeks between the No. 3 U.S. carrier and its pilots' union, a newspaper reported Tuesday.

The cuts, up sharply from the more than $800 million sought earlier in the year, would reduce pilot labor costs at Delta by nearly half, USA Today reported, citing a source close to management.

The airline, which is seeking to cut $2.5 billion a year in other expenses by 2006, says it could land in bankruptcy court if it can't work out a deal with its pilots, the newspaper reported.

http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/06/news/fortu...dex.htm?cnn=yes

 

[coolflyingfool]

WOW! 1 Billion is a whole lot of money. How many pilots does DL have? What also concerned my is where is the other $1.5 Billion in cuts going to come from? Is it all from employee wages or are they looking at all of their contract vendors? Just wondering.....

 

[luv2fly]

WOW! 1 Billion is a whole lot of money. How many pilots does DL have? What also concerned my is where is the other $1.5 Billion in cuts going to come from? Is it all from employee wages or are they looking at all of their contract vendors? Just wondering.....

Cool,

The total value of the current working agreement is valued somewhere around 1.7 to 1.8 billion annually. DAL would be asking for more than 50% of the contract. Delta currently has about 7500 active pilots. This represents around a 25% reduction in pilot staffing. Other employee groups have suffered staggering reductions as well. To date, no employee groups have taken pay reductions per se, however, Gerry has indicated in his latest memos that the past reductions are no longer sufficient. My guess is that more layoffs and paycuts will occur now.
Supposedly, DAL is tyring to negotiate with vendors as well. Herein lies DAL's true nemesis with 20 billion in long term debt. While the pilot "problem" has been a media darling lately, it is merely a drop in the bucket when compared to DAL's other neglected debts.

 

[skunkpump]

Current Delta pilot pay rates, as well as the rest of the industry:

http://www.airlinepilotpay.com