CEO says Delta seeks no layoffs, Chap. 11 unlikely NEW YORK (Reuters) =97 Delta Air Lines' chief executive said Wednesday that= =20 he will try to avoid involuntarily laying off employees, but said the 1,000= =20 who have applied for voluntary leaves might not prove to be enough. Leo=20 Mullin, who is also Delta's chairman, said Delta began a voluntary leave=20 program for its more than 60,000 employees two weeks ago, as the No. 3 U.S.= =20 carrier struggles with falling bookings and widening losses as war rages in= =20 Iraq. Most employees who applied for voluntary leaves are flight=20 attendants, he said. "Hopefully that will eliminate the necessity for=20 involuntary leaves," said Mullin in an interview after a speech in New=20 York. He added, however, "The 1,000 won't be enough in the medium term."=20 Mullin also said it is "extremely unlikely" that Atlanta-based Delta will=20 follow UAL Corp.'s United Airlines Inc. and U.S. Airways Group Inc. into=20 bankruptcy protection "in all but most hopefully unlikely of scenarios." He= =20 said he is "fairly optimistic" that major carriers will obtain U.S.=20 government aid, which U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Tuesday=20 said is likely, but remained opposed to nationalizing the airlines. Delta=20 said on Tuesday it expects to report a bigger loss this quarter than the=20 $397 million, or $3.25 per share, it lost a year ago, as bookings fall,=20 competition grows more intense, and costs for fuel, insurance, pension and= =20 security rise. On Monday it said it will temporarily cut 12 percent of=20 flights because the Iraq war is curbing passenger bookings. Delta shares=20 traded Wednesday afternoon on the New York Stock Exchange at $10.06, up 25= =20 cents. They closed one year ago at $32.79. SONG REMAINS THE SAME Mullin also said Delta has no plans to delay the April launch of Song, a=20 new low-cost carrier designed to compete with Southwest Airlines, JetBlue=20 Airways and, especially in southern U.S. markets, AirTran. "Would we=20 postpone Song? No." he said in response to a question after his speech to=20 the Wings Club, a non-profit group for aviation professionals. "It's almost= =20 a necessity (because of competition). We have to meet it even in times of=20 duress." Mullin said Delta, which had $1.9 billion of cash and equivalents= =20 on Feb. 28, remains the most financially healthy of so-called hub-and-spoke= =20 carriers. "In the midst of the chaos going on, we're in reasonably decent=20 shape," he said. In his speech, Mullin again pressed for elimination or=20 suspension of various airport, fuel and security taxes, and said carriers=20 should not be burdened with billions of dollars of annual costs for= security. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************