Airline, ALPA Working To Reach Agreement On New Contract

As new contract talks between Delta Airlines and ALPA loom on the horizon, the carrier has said that it will not outsource international flights to its partner Virgin Atlantic.

The agreement with the pilots is the first of its kind in the industry, according to Bloomberg News. It assures its pilots that Delta's overseas operations will always exceed Virgin's ... for which Delta paid $360 million for a 49 percent stake last year. The buy was intended to allow Delta to expand its overseas routes across the busy North Atlantic corridor.

Rick Dominguez, executive administrator of the U.S. carrier’s chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said that Delta has always had a good relationship with its pilots, but there was a concern that Delta would look to grow Virgin rather than the legacy U.S. carrier. Dominguez said that keeping Delta's 12,000 pilots happy could be pivotal in contract talks set to begin in April.

Delta is one of the least-unionized carriers in the industry. The pilots are the airline's only major work group to be represented by a union.

(Image from file)

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