Delta to Add Maintenance Station in Savannah

Delta Air Lines Inc., facing a hostile buyout bid by a smaller rival and seeking to emerge from bankruptcy as a standalone carrier, said Monday it is recalling 700 furloughed maintenance employees and adding a maintenance station in Savannah.

The new Savannah operation initially will employ 15 workers to perform routine maintenance on Delta's MD88 aircraft while they overnight at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.

The MD88, a twin-engine, 148-passenger McDonnell Douglas jet, comprises roughly a third of Delta's fleet.

Lee Gossett, director of line maintenance for Delta in Atlanta, said the decision to put employees in Savannah is part of the airline's approach to growing opportunities outside of Atlanta.

"We're excited to get a maintenance station in Savannah," Gossett said. "It's a beautiful city, and the weather is mild almost year-round.

"When you work outdoors most of the time, that's a big plus."

As new positions, the jobs in Savannah will be offered first to current Delta maintenance employees, then to furloughed employees, Gossett said.

"Then, if we still have openings, we'll advertise locally," he said.

But Gossett didn't think that would happen.

"Savannah is a great place to live," he said. "I can't imagine that Delta employees wouldn't jump at the chance to live and work there."

The 15 new hires will be in addition to the recall of furloughed employees, he said.

The recall decision comes less than a year after the Atlanta-based airline said it would cut up to 1,000 maintenance jobs as part of a previously announced work-force reduction plan.

Tony Charaf, Delta's senior vice president of technical operations, told employees in a memo the recall was made possible by the carrier's ability to become more competitive and grow its business profitably in recent months at a rate beyond its expectations.

Charaf said US Airways' bid last week to buy Delta in a deal now worth about $8.7 billion will not stop Delta's progress in its restructuring plan.

Delta has 1,295 maintenance employees on furlough, spokeswoman Betsy Talton said.

The recalled workers will support more international flying in 2007 and perform other maintenance jobs, she said. About 200 maintenance employees have been recalled in recent months, Delta reported.

Associated Press writer Harry Weber contributed to this report.

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