Delta Airlines tells pilots cuts are needed

ATLANTA (AP) -- Delta Air Lines chief executive Gerald Grinstein told pilots Friday the survival of the company depends on a minimum $1 billion in concessions from them, insisting their proposal for up to $705 million in cuts was not enough.
"While I respect the negotiating process and believe details are best resolved privately at the table, the sheer life-altering magnitude of the need ... deserves acknowledgment, hard truths and assurances from me personally," Grinstein wrote in an open letter to pilots.
The letter follows last week's proposal by Delta pilots to cut their pay by 23 percent and agree to other rules and scheduling changes that would save the airline between $655 million and $705 million a year. The union offer was roughly twice as much as its previous one.
Delta's management has said that without deep wage concesssions it would need to file for bankruptcy. Analysts say the airline, which had $2 billion in unrestricted cash at the end of the second quarter, has until the fall to get the cuts it needs, or enter Chapter 11.
Union spokesman Chris Renkel, in a telephone hot line message to pilots, said the union was disappointed by the counterproposal and Delta's refusal to give details of its comprehensive plan beyond wage cuts.
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