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Delta CEO Outlines Three-Point Plan for Airline Industry Survival
<http://www.delta.com/>
Includes Further Cost Cuts, Lower Fees/Taxes,
And Regulatory Openness to Restructuring
CHICAGO, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The federal government
should
assume aviation security costs immediately as a matter of national
defense,
lower air travel taxes and enable appropriate industry restructuring,
while
airlines heighten their cost reduction efforts, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:
DAL
<http://alliance.marketwatch.com/custom/alliance/interactivechart.asp?sy
mb=DAL&astyle=0,0,0,0,0,0,0,10,0,0&c=179&urlpull=&logourl=&post=0> )
Chairman and CEO Leo F. Mullin told attendees during remarks today
before the
Economic Club of Chicago.
"An industry structure that does not allow financial success for
most of
its participants can no longer be allowed to prevail," said Mullin. It
is
possible, Mullin asserted, for carriers that are currently solvent to
survive,
but only if three major actions are undertaken immediately. The
three-point
plan includes:
1 - Airlines must continue cost reduction efforts.
"Airlines must continue a program of cost reductions that outsizes
any
undertaken in its history, fundamentally restructuring the way we do
business
internally," Mullin stated. Employee numbers have already been reduced,
said
Mullin, and labor contracts are being reopened at most airlines.
Airlines also
need support from suppliers, financial organizations and airport
operators, he
added.
2 - Government should assume aviation security costs, lower
taxes/fees.
The government should re-set policies that are financially punishing
the
airline industry, Mullin said. Government-imposed security changes had
an
approximately $4.3 billion negative impact on the industry.
"These costs are appropriately part of national defense. Airlines,
like
all other industries, should be released from this unique burden,"
Mullin
said. "For our industry to recover, the government must remove both the
unique burden of national security costs and the punishing level of
taxation
that continue to hobble the airlines' self-help efforts."
3 - Government should enable appropriate restructuring.
The government should enable appropriate industry restructuring to
take
place, as well as possible mergers, alliances, or asset sales among the
various carriers in the industry. "All governmental assumptions about
appropriate industry stimulus need to be re-examined," said Mullin.
"I strongly believe that this three-step program can and will bring
the
industry back to its feet," said Mullin. "Decision makers, particularly
in
the public sector, know full-well that our country crucially needs a
vibrant
aviation system to serve as the engine for a healthy economy."
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