Carrier Says It Still Hopes To Reach Agreement

In a move called an "ultimatum" by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), Delta Air Lines has asked a bankruptcy court judge to allow the carrier to void a contract with unionized pilots after it wasn't able to secure $325 million in annual concessions from them -- money the carrier maintains it desperately needs in order to fight its way out of Chapter 11.

The carrier filed a Section 1113 motion with US Bankruptcy Court in New York, according to the Wall Street Journal, although the carrier has previously stated it was holding off such a filing while talks continued with the pilots union. Those talks, however, failed to reach an agreement even after the deadline for an interim deal passed Oct. 26.

Delta maintains the Section 1113 filing does not rule out continued talks with the union, although pilots see it differently. According to the pilots union, Delta negotiators presented their latest proposal late Monday, which "amounted to an ultimatum" to reach a deal within about three hours, on a proposal the union said was little changed from Delta's initial offer. If an agreement is not reached, the bankruptcy court will decide pilots' fates. 
 
With the peak travel season approaching, Delta runs the risk of labor issues which could affect bookings at the worst time, according to industry analysts. With Delta reporting cumulative losses of nearly $10 billion since the beginning of 2001, Delta can ill afford to lose any business.

While an ALPA spokesperson said no new talks are scheduled, the two sides could still hash out a deal within the next 51 days, before the judge imposes contract terms that may not be to either Delta's or the union's liking.

As was reported in Aero-News last fall, the pilots union already agreed to $1 billion in cuts in a bid to help the carrier stave off bankruptcy then. Since the Sept. 14 filing, most Delta employees have already agreed to a nine percent pay cut, on top of a previous cut of 10 percent last January.

Part of the proposal Delta submitted to ALPA Monday included a stipulation extending a program allowing Delta to bring in recently retired senior pilots to make up for staffing shortages.

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