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Delta looks to retired pilots
Staff, wire reports
Published on: 10/19/05 Delta Air Lines Inc. will likely ask its pilots union to extend an agreement to recall retired pilots to prevent staffing shortages as it ambitiously expands its international service while operating under bankruptcy protection, Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein said Tuesday.
Grinstein made the comments after a news conference set up to launch new nonstop service to several European destinations.
http://www.ajc.com/shared-local/images/1pix_trans.gifThe nation's third-largest carrier has seen 1,190 of its pilots retire over the last year, many of them early. The mass exodus came as many pilots feared losing their pension benefits if the airline filed for Chapter 11, which it did Sept. 14.
Asked whether the Atlanta-based airline was concerned about its ability to maintain its new international schedule long term, Grinstein said Tuesday that it wasn't. He said Delta would likely ask the pilots union to extend an agreement first reached in September 2004 that allows it to recall retired pilots on a limited basis to help prevent staffing shortages. He said the current agreement runs out Dec. 31.
"We expect to be able to man that equipment," Grinstein told reporters gathered at the Atlanta airport.
A union spokesman did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment.
However, in a recent e-mail message to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, an Air Line Pilots Association spokesman said the union viewed Delta's hiring of retired pilots as a "temporary stopgap" and had filed a grievance protesting that Delta wasn't training new hires from outside Delta ranks quickly enough.
"ALPA would prefer that when a pilot retires, an active pilot be trained and ready to take the newly vacated seat. In a profession where pay raises are largely tied to advancement, even a temporary delay in that advancement is unpopular," said ALPA spokesman John Culp in the e-mail. "It is fair to say that ALPA looks forward to the day the [retired pilot] program is not necessary."
Delta's ranks of active pilots have thinned in recent years from roughly 9,000 in early 2001 to about 6,000 now.
When the plan to recall retired pilots was first reached, the union said there would be a "random selection process" for those in the post-retirement pool, which can be tapped only when staffing falls below a certain level. It said at the time that eligible pilots must be captain-qualified and current in certain models of aircraft.
The union said the agreement allowed it to determine after a period of time that no additional pilots might be employed as post-retirement pilots. Delta needs its pilots for its broad international expansion.
The airline says its goal is to earn 35 percent of its revenue from international routes by 2007. Roughly 20 percent of Delta's revenue now comes from international flights.
The shift would make Delta comparable with most competitors, which derive 60 percent to 75 percent of their revenue from domestic flights.
Delta announced Tuesday new nonstop flights from Atlanta to Edinburgh, Scotland; to Nice, France; to Venice, Italy; and to Athens, Greece, as well as New York to Budapest, Hungary; to Dublin/Shannon, Ireland; to Manchester, England; and to Kiev, Ukraine.
All the flights are expected to begin in May except the Kiev flight, which is expected to begin June 5 subject to foreign government approval.
Delta has said it will make international travel a bigger part of its operations as part of its effort to return to profitability.
Union officials, meanwhile, have been meeting since Monday to discuss the company's request for $325 million in concessions from pilots. That would come on top of $1 billion in annual concessions the pilots agreed to last year.
— Associated Press and Russell Grantham
Hey General I don't know about you but I say HELL NO! Get the FURLOUGHED folks back! Delta has plenty of pilots, some of them just aren't working.
701EV
Staff, wire reports
Published on: 10/19/05 Delta Air Lines Inc. will likely ask its pilots union to extend an agreement to recall retired pilots to prevent staffing shortages as it ambitiously expands its international service while operating under bankruptcy protection, Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein said Tuesday.
Grinstein made the comments after a news conference set up to launch new nonstop service to several European destinations.
http://www.ajc.com/shared-local/images/1pix_trans.gifThe nation's third-largest carrier has seen 1,190 of its pilots retire over the last year, many of them early. The mass exodus came as many pilots feared losing their pension benefits if the airline filed for Chapter 11, which it did Sept. 14.
Asked whether the Atlanta-based airline was concerned about its ability to maintain its new international schedule long term, Grinstein said Tuesday that it wasn't. He said Delta would likely ask the pilots union to extend an agreement first reached in September 2004 that allows it to recall retired pilots on a limited basis to help prevent staffing shortages. He said the current agreement runs out Dec. 31.
"We expect to be able to man that equipment," Grinstein told reporters gathered at the Atlanta airport.
A union spokesman did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment.
However, in a recent e-mail message to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, an Air Line Pilots Association spokesman said the union viewed Delta's hiring of retired pilots as a "temporary stopgap" and had filed a grievance protesting that Delta wasn't training new hires from outside Delta ranks quickly enough.
"ALPA would prefer that when a pilot retires, an active pilot be trained and ready to take the newly vacated seat. In a profession where pay raises are largely tied to advancement, even a temporary delay in that advancement is unpopular," said ALPA spokesman John Culp in the e-mail. "It is fair to say that ALPA looks forward to the day the [retired pilot] program is not necessary."
Delta's ranks of active pilots have thinned in recent years from roughly 9,000 in early 2001 to about 6,000 now.
When the plan to recall retired pilots was first reached, the union said there would be a "random selection process" for those in the post-retirement pool, which can be tapped only when staffing falls below a certain level. It said at the time that eligible pilots must be captain-qualified and current in certain models of aircraft.
The union said the agreement allowed it to determine after a period of time that no additional pilots might be employed as post-retirement pilots. Delta needs its pilots for its broad international expansion.
The airline says its goal is to earn 35 percent of its revenue from international routes by 2007. Roughly 20 percent of Delta's revenue now comes from international flights.
The shift would make Delta comparable with most competitors, which derive 60 percent to 75 percent of their revenue from domestic flights.
Delta announced Tuesday new nonstop flights from Atlanta to Edinburgh, Scotland; to Nice, France; to Venice, Italy; and to Athens, Greece, as well as New York to Budapest, Hungary; to Dublin/Shannon, Ireland; to Manchester, England; and to Kiev, Ukraine.
All the flights are expected to begin in May except the Kiev flight, which is expected to begin June 5 subject to foreign government approval.
Delta has said it will make international travel a bigger part of its operations as part of its effort to return to profitability.
Union officials, meanwhile, have been meeting since Monday to discuss the company's request for $325 million in concessions from pilots. That would come on top of $1 billion in annual concessions the pilots agreed to last year.
— Associated Press and Russell Grantham
Hey General I don't know about you but I say HELL NO! Get the FURLOUGHED folks back! Delta has plenty of pilots, some of them just aren't working.
701EV
