=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/news/archive/2004/07/30/f= inancial1844EDT0720.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, July 30, 2004 (AP) Delta CEO asks pilots for $1 billion in cost cuts to help airline survive HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer (07-30) 15:44 PDT ATLANTA (AP) -- Delta Air Lines chief executive Gerald Grinstein told pilots Friday the survival of the company depends on a minimum $1 billion in concessions from them, insisting their proposal for up to $705 million in cuts was not enough. "While I respect the negotiating process and believe details are best resolved privately at the table, the sheer life-altering magnitude of the need ... deserves acknowledgment, hard truths and assurances from me personally," Grinstein wrote in an open letter to pilots. The letter follows last week's proposal by Delta pilots to cut their pay by 23 percent and agree to other rules and scheduling changes that would save the airline between $655 million and $705 million a year. The union offer was roughly twice as much as its previous one. Delta's management has said that without deep wage concesssions it would need to file for bankruptcy. Analysts say the airline, which had $2 billion in unrestricted cash at the end of the second quarter, has until the fall to get the cuts it needs, or enter Chapter 11. Union spokesman Chris Renkel, in a telephone hotline message to pilots, said the union was disappointed by the counterproposal and Delta's refusal to give details of its comprehensive plan beyond wage cuts. "These items must be addressed in a meaningful manner before the Delta pilots can respond to management's latest proposal," Renkel said Friday. The union, which represents 7,500 active Delta pilots, had told manageme= nt that it believed it was making a good-faith effort to save the Atlanta-based airline from bankruptcy. Delta, the nation's third-largest airline, has lost more than $5 billion and laid off 16,000 employees in the last three years. It has been hit hard by high fuel costs and competition from low-fare carriers. Delta pilots are among the highest paid in the nation, earning on average between $100,000 to $300,000 a year, the company said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP