The crisis at Delta: One pilot’s point of view

Skyrocketing fuel prices, along with senior executives who have made a series of questionable business decisions, have taken Delta Air Lines Inc. — a company once considered a diamond in the industry — to the brink of extinction.

Executives from Delta Air Lines and lawyers representing the pilots union recently wrapped up their presentations to a three-man panel of arbitrators. At stake are the Delta pilots’ collective bargaining agreement, the future of the company itself and the continued economic health of the Atlanta metropolitan area.

Since 2001, U.S. airlines have accumulated over $30 billion in red ink. As a result, thousands of jobs have been lost, wages have been slashed and pensions have either become insolvent or terminated.

Delta, one of Georgia’s largest employers, has not been immune. Last September, after hemorrhaging billions of dollars over a five-year period, Delta followed in the footsteps of US Airways, United, ATA and Northwest by filing for Chapter 11.

The airline industry could have avoided the financial debacle it put itself in had it systematically raised air fares to offset the dramatic rise in fuel prices. Airline executives, however, had a different flight plan in mind.

Atlanta Business Chronicle