Release #06.DAL12
March 29, 2006

Delta Pilots Practice Strike

ATLANTA, GA -- The pilots at Delta Air Lines, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) will demonstrate their resolve by participating in a practice strike on Thursday, March 30. Hundreds of pilots will meet at the union’s Atlanta strike center and travel to the Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport for a lawful demonstration. The practice strike will show Delta management a small part of what lies ahead if it chooses to reject the Delta pilots’ contract and will exercise the infrastructure in place at the union’s strike center. The Delta pilots’ union chairman, Captain Lee Moak, affirms that “The Delta pilots will strike if our contract is rejected.”

The union remains focused on negotiating a consensual agreement, but Delta senior executives continued to push for rejection of the Delta pilots’ contract at the neutral panel hearings last week. Their demands have remained essentially unchanged over a period of more than six months, even with their recent acknowledgement that the pilots’ retirement plan will almost certainly be terminated, due in large part to their failure to fund the plan while in bankruptcy. Extensive union analysis revealed that management’s demands are an overreach. The pilots’ union employed the same analytical procedure used previously to confirm whether the company actually needs concessions at the level management claims.

The 2004 concession package has not been fully realized within the business plan, yet management returned with another demand for extensive cuts. Any proposed cuts would be in addition to the $5 billion in concessions, including a 32.5% pay cut, given just 15 months ago. Chairman Lee Moak stated, “It appears that the strategy of Delta’s executives is one of ‘bankruptcy profiteering.’ Delta senior executives are using the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to slash costs on the backs of their employees, while paying consultants and attorneys millions of dollars and setting up executive perks, like the recent executive severance packages.”

Photo and interview opportunity will be available at the Atlanta-Hartsfield International Airport, Delta South Terminal, upper level near baggage claim at approximately 12 noon.

Founded in 1931, the Air Line Pilots Association ( ALPA) represents 62,000 pilots at 39 airlines in the U.S. and Canada. ALPA represents approximately 6,000 active Delta Air Lines pilots and 500 furloughed Delta pilots. Visit the ALPA website at http://www.alpa.org and the Delta pilots’ website at http://www.deltapilots.org/.

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CONTACT: Kelly Collins, 770-330-4145 cell phone, 404-763-4925 office
More information is available on the Delta pilots’ website at www.deltapilots.org