ALPA leadership ratifies tentative Delta pilot pact

After several days of deliberation, the Master Executive Council (MEC) leadership of Delta Air Lines’ pilots’ union has ratified a tentative agreement with the ailing airline. The next move is up to the carrier’s approximately 6,000 pilots.

Lee Moak, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association MEC at Delta says the deal “provides Delta with the relief it needs to successfully restructure, while providing Delta pilots with enhanced job security and the potential to share in the company’s future success as it emerges from bankruptcy”.

Delta, the nation’s third-largest airline, is currently struggling to shed the Chapter 11 mantle it is using to protect itself from creditors. Getting pilots to accept further pay concessions was critical to that plan.

The four-year deal provides approximately $280 million in average annual pilot labor cost savings. The airline had wanted $325 million, but “We agreed to reduce our proposal and make improvements to the overall package, recognizing the likelihood the pilot pension plan would be terminated,” says Edward H. Bastian. Bastian is the airline’s executive vice president, chief financial officer, and head of the company’s in-court restructuring efforts.

While ratification by the union membership is not assured, the agreement passed the Delta pilots’ Master Executive Council by a strong margin: 12 to one.

Pilots are expected to vote in late May, after union officials meet with the membership over the coming weeks to explain the tentative agreement. Should pilots okay the pact, it still has to be approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court.

A pilots' strike was averted in mid-April when the union and Delta reached the tentative agreement. Had an arbitration panel allowed Delta to throw out its pilots' contract, the airmen said they would strike. Such a move would, experts agree, probably have killed the airline.

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler