Delta Wants to Cut Pilots’ Minimum Wage to Prevent Furloughs

Delta is proposing a 15% cut to minimum pay for pilots to avoid furloughs for a year. The airline and others are warning pilots about potential furloughs when federal aid terms expire Oct. 1, according to CNBC.

Delta Air Lines is seeking to reduce the guaranteed minimum pay for its pilots, a proposal an airline executive said Friday could avoid furloughs for a year as the threat of job cuts looms and a quick recovery in air travel becomes increasingly remote because of new coronavirus cases.

More than 60,000 airline employees across several carriers have been warned this month that their jobs are at risk, including more than 2,500 of Delta’s more than 14,000 pilots, when the terms of billions of dollars in federal payroll support expire Oct. 1.

Delta and other airlines are urging employees to take early retirements, buyouts and other forms of leave to slash costs as financial losses pile up. More than 1,700 pilots have signed up for early retirements, according to a memo from John Laughter, Delta’s senior vice president of flight operations.

Delta pilots have until July 19 to apply for the early retirement packages. The Atlanta-based carrier is proposing that the pilots’ union agree to lower their minimum guaranteed pay by 15%, according to the memo.

Delta this week said it is halving the number additional flights planned next month to 500 a day after a recovery in travel demand eased as coronavirus cases spiked and states like New York ordered arriving travelers to quarantine.