Pilot's Union Lauds Return Of 'Spirit Of Delta'

Delta Air Lines Inc. announced Monday its reorganization plan has received enough creditor support to be approved, based on unofficial voting results... clearing the path for the carrier to emerge from bankruptcy April 30.

The Atlanta-based airline said the preliminary results are showing more than 95 percent of ballots cast favored the plan, according to the Associated Press.

Delta creditors also voted on a reorganization plan by Delta's wholly owned regional airline subsidiary, Comair... and it, too, appears to have been approved.

Final tallies will be filed with the US Bankruptcy Court in New York later this week with a confirmation hearing scheduled for April 25.

"We appreciate our creditors' strong vote of confidence in our plan, which we believe both maximizes their recovery and builds a foundation for Delta's long-term success," said Ed Bastian, Delta's chief financial officer.

Both of Delta's plans would typically have to be approved by holders of two-thirds of the claims and a majority of the number of individual creditors for it to pass.

As ANN has reported, the carrier's reorganization plan allows for unsecured creditors to get between 62 percent and 78 percent of the amount of allowed claims and the company estimates it will be worth $9.4 billion to $12 billion when it emerges from Chapter 11.

Delta, the nation's third-largest carrier, filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2005.

Even the union that represents Delta pilots states the airline has come a long way from a year ago, when it faced the threat of a pilot strike. The airline ultimately got $280 million in annual concessions from its pilots, and there was no work stoppage.

"Early on, it was pretty ugly here," Lee Moak, chairman of the executive committee of the Air Line Pilots Association said. "Right now, we're exiting bankruptcy with the opportunity to make our first dollars. It's starting to look like it's going to be a profitable airline, as long as everyone executes the business plan."

The carrier has projected it will have a pretax profit of $816 million in 2007, excluding any special and reorganization items.

Moak said the emergence from bankruptcy has boosted employee morale as well.

"It's a lot like it was 20 or 30 years ago when people were hired by that Delta Air Lines," he said. "I watch what the aviation reporters write about the spirit at a lot of these low-cost carriers, the entrepreneurial spirit of JetBlue and Southwest. We have that spirit back."

FMI: www.delta.com