ATLANTA_Delta Air Lines Inc., the world's biggest airline operator, is scrapping five executive positions as it seeks to reduce costs amid the deep economic downturn and speed up its integration with Northwest Airlines.
There also could be further job reductions across the company as the Atlanta-based carrier cuts international capacity by an additional 10 percent starting in September, though Delta has not offered any specifics.
Chief Executive Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees Wednesday that with the merger's rapid progression and the current economic environment, "it is prudent for us to restructure and reduce the size of our executive team." Delta acquired Northwest on Oct. 29.
Anderson and Bastian said that on June 1, the following executives will leave the company, Crystal Knotek, senior vice president of airport customer service for Northwest; Laura Liu, senior vice president, international; Todd Anderson, senior vice president, customer service, Minneapolis-St. Paul; Tammy Lee Stanoch, vice president, corporate affairs, Minneapolis-St. Paul; and Anna Schaefer, vice president, chief accounting officer, Northwest.
Several other executives will have added or new duties.
Mike Becker, chief operating officer, Northwest, will assume responsibility for international operations, including the Pacific unit. Gil West, senior vice president of airport customer service for Delta, will add responsibility for Northwest airport customer service operations worldwide. Bill Lentsch, senior vice president of flight operations for Northwest, has been named senior vice president of Minnesota operations.
Anderson and Bastian said in the memo that the overall state of the global economy and the resulting drop in demand for air travel continue to challenge the airline industry.
"Bottom line, the global economic downturn is worse than many economists anticipated," they said. "We will continue to act quickly and decisively to address these economic pressures looking ahead for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010."
They noted Delta's announcement in March about planned international capacity reductions later this year. They also referred to how Delta in the past has offered voluntary severance programs to employees to cut jobs to match previous capacity reductions.
"We have been, and continue to be, committed to avoiding involuntary reductions of frontline employees to the greatest extent possible," the two executives said.
Anderson and Bastian said previously that Delta would reassess its staffing needs in light of the new capacity cuts.
Delta said the international capacity reductions will be targeted to areas where Delta has seen the most revenue weakness - the Atlantic and Pacific networks. To achieve the reductions, Delta will exit low-performing markets, adjust frequencies and move some markets to seasonal service.
The airline has said that it still plans to increase Latin America capacity in the fourth quarter.
Delta is expected to release its first-quarter financial results on April 21.
Shares rose 28 cents, or 5 percent, to close at $5.91 Wednesday.
