Delta Reports Losing $182M in November

Jan. 2, 2006
The Atlanta-based airline, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Sept. 14, also said in a court filing that it spent $2.39 billion in the 30-day period.

ATLANTA_Delta Air Lines Inc., the nation's third-largest carrier, said Friday it lost $182 million in November, pushing its red ink to $11.6 billion since January 2001.

The Atlanta-based airline, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York on Sept. 14, also said in a court filing that it spent $2.39 billion in the 30-day period.

It must file a monthly operating report with the bankruptcy court.

The latest loss, which is equivalent to 96 cents a share, includes $1 million in preferred stock dividends that Delta accrued but did not pay, spokeswoman Chris Kelly said. It still considered the money part of its loss.

Excluding reorganization items, Delta said its loss in November was $164 million.

Revenue for the month totaled $1.3 billion. It said it ended the month with $2.07 billion in cash on hand.

Delta had lost $8.52 billion between Jan. 1, 2001, and Dec. 31, 2004. So far this year, it reported losses of $1.08 billion in the first quarter, $388 million in the second quarter and $1.13 billion in the third quarter. Kelly said the airline lost $300 million in October.

The latest earnings report comes as Delta's 6,000 pilots earlier this week approved another round of deep pay cuts.

The 14 percent cut in wages and other cuts equal to an additional 1 percent wage reduction that pilots agreed to Wednesday are on top of a 32.5 percent pay cut the pilots agreed to last year as part of a $1 billion annual concessions package.

Delta had been seeking to void the pilot contract so it could impose $325 million in new concessions on its pilots, but agreed to an interim deal worth less than half that. The two sides will now try to work out a comprehensive deal by March. If they can't, a three-person arbitration panel will decide the fate of the pilot contract.

The pilot union's threat of a strike is on the back burner for now. But if the contract is ultimately thrown out by the arbitration panel, the threat could resurface.

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On the Net:

Delta Air Lines Inc.: http://www.delta.com

Bankruptcy Court: http://ecf.nysb.uscourts.gov