Delta pilots get 30% raise by 2019 in new contract

Delta pilots Thursday agreed to a new contract that delivers a 30% pay raise by 2019, as the aviation industry deals with mounting demand for higher wages to fly planes at a time of big profits. Delta's pilots last year rejected a tentative contract deal that would have increased wages but cut profit sharing in certain cases. The new contract, backed by 82% of pilots at airline by traffic who voted on ratification, keeps existing gains on profit sharing, according to Delta's unit of the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA). The Delta contract, a four-year deal retroactive to the beginning of this year, could have a snowball effect for higher pay in the industry when the next round of bargaining between pilots and top US airlines gets underway in 2019. United Continental pilots, who approved a 19% raise in a deal reached earlier this year, will get an extra bump to match Delta's gains thanks to a clause in their current contract. The deal with Delta's 13,000 pilots raises their pay by 18% immediately and a cumulative 30% by Jan. 1, 2019. For instance, a Boeing Co 737 captain of 12 years would see wages rise to $284.01 per hour in 2019 from $218.15 in 2015. "The new pilot agreement contains an industry-leading package of pay, benefits and work rules," Delta said. "Higher labor costs are going to pressure earnings next year, so the best way the airlines can counteract that is raising airfares," said Adam Hackel, an airline analyst at Imperial Capital LLC in New York. However, investors seem to have accepted this as the "price of doing business," Hackel said.<br/>