Delta Air Lines will cancel its commitment for 40 Boeing 737-900ERs and 20 Embraer 190s, following the rejection of a new contract by its pilots less than a week ago.
Richard Anderson, chief executive of the Atlanta-based carrier, says that the purchase commitments will be “cancelled”, during an earnings call today.
Pilots at Delta rejected the tentative agreement that was a precondition to the commitments being firmed in a vote that concluded on 10 July. They voted by a 30 percentage point margin against the agreement, with 65% of those voting saying no.
Despite this setback, Anderson calls the relationship between Delta and its pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) “strong”.
“The relationship is still strong, its intact, we have a decade history of being able to work together,” he says.
Anderson anticipates more detail on why the pilots rejected the agreement, which included industry leading pay rates in exchange for less profit sharing, in a few weeks after the ALPA Delta master executive council meets.
Delta’s existing contract becomes amendable on 31 December, giving the airline and union time to renegotiate a new deal. However, this is not a hard deadline as pilots can continue to work under the existing contract past the December deadline.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
