Delta will avoid pilot permits if they accept a reduced minimum wage: memo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Delta Air Lines told pilots on Friday it would avoid permits if they agreed to reduce the guaranteed minimum wage, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

Delta is still struggling due to a dramatic decline in travel demand caused by the coronavirus pandemic. This week it reported that second quarter revenue fell 91% and an adjusted pre-tax loss of $ 3.9 billion.

The airline is working to further reduce costs and more than 17,000 employees are taking voluntary departure packages, including more than 1,700 of 7,900 pilots before the Sunday deadline for pilots to accept voluntary packages.

Delta Senior Vice President of Flight Operations John Laughter

He said in a memo that the company is “committed to preventing involuntary permits for as many, if not all, of the people of Delta.”

Laughter said the company proposed reducing the pilot’s minimum guaranteed payment by 15% for 12 months in exchange for a one-year license-free guarantee.

“Our focus is to spread the work of a smaller airline among all of our pilots to preserve all jobs, that would be unheard of in our history,” Laughter wrote.

Laughter said Delta pilots are currently paid for more hours than they are actually flying. In June, the pilots flew approximately 10 real hours and will be 15.5 in July.

A spokesman for the Airline Pilots Association said the union met with Delta on Thursday and suggested that the airline was choosing to “negotiate in public directly with our pilots,” and said that could impede the process.

Laughter noted that “early bookings have stagnated as infection rates increase in parts of the American peak and anxiety about the virus increases. US infection rates drop again. ”

The memo was previously reported by CNBC.