Delta seeks 3,000 furlough volunteers

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines is asking for 3,000 more flight attendants to take unpaid leave or other options, saying it is still overstaffed.

The Atlanta-based airline’s senior vice president of in-flight service, Allison Ausband, told flight attendants that based on projections, the company will be overstaffed from October into next summer.

Travel remains depressed because of covid-19. A nascent recovery earlier this summer was stymied by a resurgence of the virus.

More than 17,000 employees at the airline have already taken buyouts or early retirements, and more than 41,000 volunteered for unpaid leaves earlier this year in response to the pandemic, including thousands of flight attendants.

For many of those who took leaves, Delta applied for unemployment benefits in Georgia, which at the time included an additional $600 a week in federal benefits on top of regular state benefits. But the emergency $600 in weekly federal unemployment payments expired last month.

In an effort to avoid involuntary furloughs, Delta is asking its flight attendants to sign up for another window of unpaid leaves of up to 12 months, from Oct. 1 through as late as Sept. 30, 2021.

Delta said it is introducing more options “to preserve jobs as involuntary furloughs are an absolute last resort.”

Delta is also asking flight attendants to fly reduced schedules over eight months, “giving you the flexibility to balance flying with other opportunities or obligations such as family care, school or other careers,” Ausband wrote in a memo.