June 16, 2006
With Your Boots On
Delta to Request End to Pilot Pensions
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 16, 2006
Filed at 2:26 p.m. ET
ATLANTA (AP) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. will file a request with a bankruptcy court judge Monday to terminate its pilots' pension plan, the company's chief executive said in a letter to a lawmaker Friday.CEO Gerald Grinstein said in the letter to U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson that the nation's third-largest carrier will ask that the pilots' pension be terminated effective Sept. 2.
The move was not unexpected, and Grinstein said the Atlanta-based airline is still seeking pension reform in Congress in hopes of preserving the pension plan for other employees.
''The unfortunate reality is that even if a pension reform bill containing airline relief passes, unless the pilot plan is terminated, Delta cannot successfully restructure and emerge from bankruptcy,'' Grinstein wrote.
He added that the relief Delta is seeking is necessary ''if we are to preserve tens of thousands of jobs and provide ongoing service to tens of millions of customers in local communities around the world.''
Once the filing is made with the court, the request to terminate the pilots' pension would have to be approved by a judge. There likely will be objections, though the pilots, for their part, have agreed not to object.
Pilots are pretty well paid so I'm not boo-hooing about this other than what it portends for all of us. Like most lower middle class people, I've never made enough money to be building up a big investment portfolio for retirement. Barring something unexpected, I don't expect to ever be able to afford to retire. The concept of an employer funded pension is pretty much going the way of the passenger pigeon. Retirement is going to be something that is only for the wealthy in another 20 years.
Posted by Melanie at June 16, 2006 02:56 PM | TrackBackMelanie;
Actually, airline pilots - heck, almost any pilot, commercial, cargo, whatever - get horrible wages when they start fresh with an airline.
Further, if you worked for 20 years for, say, Delta, then have to shuffle off to America West or a regional such as Sky, you sart at the bottom of the wage scale again. (Granted, if you can get through 20 years at the same airline as a pilot, you make great pay, but that's increasingly harder to accomplish.)
Sadly, a lot of this grief is unnecessary but one valid solution is unpalatable to politicians. American-based airlines are starved for cash flow. If we would allow foreign airlines to be able to buy 45% of these outfits instead of the present anemic amount (15%?), many of their problems would vanish. But for most countries, having "not national" airlines, even the ones that aren't owned by the government, isn't acceptable.
