Delta Airlines, seeing and understanding the cascade of trouble the economy and bankruptcy courts have put on the so-far surviving premium airlines, has approached its pilots' union, to see if the front-seaters might be amenable to reducing their costs to the airline.

Last Wednesday, Delta's EVP and CFO, Michelle Burns, told the Deutsche Bank Transportation Conference that she'd like to talk with ALPA, "in light of our current financial situation."

ALPA doesn't want to open the door, without knowing what it's going to let in. The union pointed out that Delta, so far, hasn't put anything specific on the table, and merely saying that the union may be of a mind to reduce its members' pay and/or benefits would be an open invitation to losing its raison d'etre. The current contract was negotiated just five months before the terror attacks.

Since September 11, 2001, Delta has furloughed over a thousand pilots; some 8500 remain. Its overall payroll has dwindled by about 18,000, largely through retirement and voluntary vacancies.

FMI: www.delta.com; www.alpa.org