Hearing Scheduled May 31... As Current Pilots Finish Voting On Deal

A tentative pay agreement reached between Delta Air Lines and its pilots last month may be in danger... not from the pilots union, but rather from former pilots for the carrier.

The Delta Pilots' Pension Preservation Organization -- a group representing the carrier's 5,800 retired pilots -- has asked a bankruptcy court judge to reject the tentative contract, saying that if approved it would drastically reduce pension benefits for the bankrupt carrier's former pilots.

The retired pilots say Delta negotiated an improper deal, because the carrier is taking more than what is necessary for Delta to successfully reorganize. They also claim Delta failed to present a deal "so as to treat fairly and equitably all creditors and affected parties."

A hearing on the objection is scheduled for May 31... the same day Delta's current pilots are scheduled to complete voting on the agreement. Regardless of the outcome of the pilots' voting, the court's ruling would be the final word.

Delta is betting on the agreement going forward, in its quest to save an average of $280 million annually. "It is important to our future and that of everyone connected with Delta Air Lines," airline spokesman Bruce Hicks told the Associated Press.

Should the new contract -- which was approved by leaders of the Air Line Pilots Association on April 21, one week after the airline and the union reached the tentative agreement -- be rejected by either the court or Delta's current pilots, it could once again revive the threat of a pilots strike.

In such a scenario, Delta would almost certainly ask federal mediators to allow the carrier to toss out its current contract with pilots -- a move that pilots say would be met by an immediate strike.

FMI: www.delta.com, www.dp3.org