Delta Pilots Picket Outside Airports

Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots continued picketing Tuesday at airports to vent their frustration with the status of negotiations over long-term pay cuts, while the company announced new flights to and from New York.

Pilots walked in unison and held signs outside Delta terminals at airports in Atlanta, Boston and New York.

The nation's third-largest carrier and its 6,000 pilots missed a March 1 deadline to reach a consensual deal on long-term pay and benefit cuts. Therefore, Delta's request to void its pilot contract so it can impose up to $325 million in cuts has been turned over to arbitrators.

The two sides still could have more discussions up to and through the arbitration hearings that begin next Monday in Washington. The pilots union has said it will strike if its contract is thrown out. The Atlanta-based airline has said a strike would put it out of business.

Meanwhile, Delta said Tuesday it is adding 46 new daily departures to 17 nonstop destinations. The new flights, to be introduced between June and September, will connect customers to Delta flights at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The airline said the new flights also will complement its service at New York's LaGuardia Airport.

Delta, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, has been looking at New York as a venue to help it expand its international service.

Delta first said in January 2004 that it would pump $300 million into an expansion of its service at Kennedy - the main hub of discount carrier JetBlue Airways Corp. - as part of a plan that was derailed by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It said two years ago that New York was a focus of its growth plans. On Tuesday, Delta said it is investing more than $10 million in renovations to some of its New York airport terminals.

The new and expanded destinations are: Albany, Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse, N.Y.; Cleveland; Detroit; Norfolk and Richmond, Va.; Philadelphia; Baltimore; Hartford, Conn.; Providence, R.I.; Washington, D.C (Reagan and Dulles); San Diego; Las Vegas; and Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

It described Kennedy as a "growing hub" for Delta. Its main hubs are at the airports serving Atlanta, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City.

A spokeswoman for Delta's pilots union, Kelly Collins, said the pilots who participated in the picketing remained focused even as Delta made its announcement about new flights.

Collins said the decision by negotiators at the pilots union at Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines Corp. to agree to long-term pay cuts doesn't necessarily pressure Delta pilots to do the same.

Delta spokesman Bruce Hicks said the airline remains open to further talks with its pilots.

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