Pilots at Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines appear to have given up efforts to combine their seniority lists, which was considered essential to the two carriers’ hopes for a merger without crippling rancor. þþBoth carriers may soon announce cutbacks in service instead, as they adjust to $100-a-barrel oil and an expected slowdown in business travel.þþLee Moak, chairman of the Delta chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said in a letter to the carrier’s 6,300 pilots on Monday that seniority talks with Northwest’s 4,500 pilots — he did not name Northwest, but others have confirmed that the two sides were in negotiations — had broken off.þþSeniority is prized by airline pilots because it determines most aspects of their careers, including their level of pay, what type of plane they fly, whether they are captains or co-pilots, and how vulnerable they are to being laid off. þþThe most recent big airline merger, the combination in 2005 of US Airways and America West Airlines, is still caught up in disputes over pilot seniority.þþWith that in mind, executives at Delta and Northwest had offered pilots stock in a combined airline, an improved union contract and a voting seat on the board in exchange for completing the difficult business of merging seniority lists ahead of time.þþNorthwest and Delta declined to comment. A spokesman for Northwest pilots could not be reached.þþNorthwest has a large number of senior pilots. Delta has fewer because many of the old ones took early retirement before the carrier’s bankruptcy filing in 2005 so they could collect lump-sum pension payments. The two groups had negotiated for weeks.þþMr. Moak, in his letter, contended that Delta pilots “presented a rational and fair integration method.” Of Northwest, he added, “The other committee took a different approach.”þþHe struck a note of regret over the two groups’ failure to agree. þþ“We were in a position to shatter the traditional merger mold as it related to labor integration,” Mr. Moak wrote.þþThe carriers, and others in the industry, are expected to continue reducing domestic flights in the face of the high fuel costs and a deteriorating economy. Delta executives are scheduled to make a presentation to investors on Tuesday and could outline service cutbacks and other moves. þþRoger King, an analyst at CreditSights, said in a report Monday that at current fuel prices and without a significant increase in fares, the airline industry will lose billions of dollars this year. þþ“Airlines have to capitulate with radical changes to their business plans,” he said, or risk draining their cash reserves and again being in serious financial trouble.þþ
Source: NY Times
