Delta To Furlough More Than 1900 Pilots: Reports

(RTTNews) - Delta Airlines is planning to furlough more than 1900 pilots in October, as it sees bleak signs of recovery in the near future, reports said citing an internal memo to employees.

"We are six months into this pandemic and only 25% of our revenues have been recovered," John Laughter, senior vice president of flight operations, was quoted as saying in the memo. "Unfortunately, we see few catalysts over the next six months to meaningfully change this trajectory."

The airline has about 11,200 pilots under its payroll, and not more than 9,450 of them are needed even during the peak flying period for the next 12-18 months, according to the memo.

Delta Air Lines had received $5.4 billion in government grant through Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, payroll support program. The company had warned about job cuts once the government stimulus fund expires in September.

Airline industry was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Being grounded for a period airliners are slowly getting back on wings even with reduced occupancy. Delta had extended the practice of blocking middle seats booking through January 2021.

In the June quarter revenue had decreased to $1.468 billion from $12.536 billion last year.