Delta offers buyouts, retirement to 17,000

Delta Air Lines had a $5.7 billion net loss for the second quarter and is cutting its workforce through buyouts and early retirements.

More than 17,000 employees have signed up to take early retirements or buyouts, according to Delta. That’s about 20 percent of the company’s workforce.

The quarterly loss reflects “the truly staggering impact” of the coronavirus pandemic, Bastian said in a written statement. “We continue to believe that it will be more than two years before we see a sustainable recovery,” he added.

Atlanta-based Delta cut its flying by 85 percent in the quarter ended June 30, but its passenger counts declined even more, down 93 percent.

The airline announced Tuesday plans to retire its Boeing 737-700 fleet, a smaller plane type that Bastian said is not as economical.

That’s part of more than 100 planes Delta is retiring for good from its fleet of more than 1,000 aircraft. It has already retired all of its MD-88s and MD-90s and plans to retire its entire Boeing 777 fleet and some of its Airbus A320s and Boeing 767-300ERs.

Delta and other airlines have said if they cannot cut their staffs enough through voluntary measures, they would resort to layoffs.