Delta steers 17,000 staff into early retirement

Delta is to shed 17,000 employees through early retirement, an uptake the company said would allow it to impose fewer furloughs than US rivals in a sector upended by the pandemic. The carrier Tuesday reported a $7b pre-tax loss in Q2, the second largest in its history. Operating revenue tumbled 88% from a year earlier to $1.5b. The US airline industry, reeling from a collapse in demand because of the coronavirus crisis, has agreed not to cut jobs or pay until October 1 as part of a $50b government aid package. Delta employs 91,000 people. Ed Bastian, CE, said the retirements and the 45,000 employees who have opted for voluntary leave would allow it to scale back with fewer furloughs than competitors. “When you put that all together, any furlough at Delta will be much smaller than the numbers at United or American,” he said. Joe Caiado, analyst at Credit Suisse, said in a note that he estimated that Delta would fly 25% less in summer 2021 than in summer 2019, meaning it would need 25% fewer employees. That is the equivalent of 22,750 full-time employees, or 5,750 more than the cuts achieved through early retirement. Bastian told investors that Q3 revenue is expected to be just 20 to 25% of the $12.6b recorded for the same period last year. “The recovery will be choppy,” Bastian said.<br/>