=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/02/05/f= inancial0340EST0014.DTL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, February 5, 2004 (AP) Delta pulls back on expansion plans for Song (02-05) 00:40 PST ATLANTA (AP) -- Launched in April as part of a plan to return Delta Air Lines to profitability, discount airline Song's cross-country expansion has been put on hold while its struggling parent company seeks other ways to cut costs. Song, designed to give Delta an answer to such low-fare alternatives as JetBlue Airways and AirTran, based its business on flights from the Northeast to Florida, but had been expected to add cross-country routes from New York. Instead, Delta's new Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein is taking a second look at those expansion plans while the company continues to seek wage concessions in its ongoing talks with its pilots union. Company officials say the review of plans for Song is expected to be completed by June. Delta, which lost $1.3 billion last year, has laid off 16,000 employees since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Grinstein says wage cuts are necessary to help the airline return to profitability. Delta, the nation's third-largest airline, expects to record a loss of up to $350 million in the first quarter of 2004, the company's chief financial officer, Michele Burns, said last month. Delta announced Song would add two new daily flights from JFK to Fort Myers, Fla., but Song was not included in new plans for Delta's expanded West Coast service and leisure destinations in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Song uses Delta pilots and provides such perks as leather seats and in-flight entertainment. It cuts costs with shorter aircraft turnaround times at airports. =20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP