=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/2004/09/15/f= inancial1409EDT0164.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday, September 15, 2004 (AP) Delta CEO says pilot retirement agreement likely won't happen by week's end HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer (09-15) 11:09 PDT ATLANTA (AP) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. chief executive Gerald Grinstein backpedaled Wednesday from his earlier suggestion that an agreement with pilots on stemming early retirements could be worked out by week's end. At a Commerce Club speech to Georgia business leaders, Grinstein was ask= ed if his timeline still stood. "Probably not," Grinstein responded. Asked why, Grinstein said, "We're in the middle of a discussion and I think they're going to be responsive, but it's now Wednesday and the pilots are scattered and it has to be reviewed by a lot of people inside the organization and you've got a weather condition coming into this airport, so all of those things tell me that it will be delayed probably beyond this week." Grinstein then immediately left the building and did not take further questions from reporters. Delta fears that its pilots could jump ship en masse because they are worried about their pensions amid United Airlines' threat to terminate its employee retirement plans. Several hundred Delta pilots have retired early in recent months, and more have threatened to, Grinstein has said. Delta pilots who retire can elect to receive 50 percent of their pension benefit in a lump sum and the other 50 percent as an annuity later, regulatory filings show. On Monday, Grinstein told reporters at an airline conference in New York that he was hopeful that an agreement on that specific issue could be worked out by the end of the week. The pilots union had balked at that timeline. Although it has said as recently as Tuesday that it is willing to negotiate with the airline, the union said an agreement on the pilot retirement issue would be contingent on further assurances from the company of protection for the pilots retirement plan. Atlanta-based Delta said in a statement that the company's contract proposal to the pilots union "would preserve the pilots accrued pension benefits, including the pilots ability to receive money in a lump sum, and is designed to create a sustainable retirement plan going forward." The union has consistently disputed that assertion. "Delta has not guaranteed to protect the pilots' accrued benefits," said union spokeswoman Karen Miller. Grinstein has said previously that the nation's third-largest airline would be forced to file for bankruptcy if it didn't get its pilot retirement issue under control by the end of September. Delta is still seeking $1 billion in concessions from pilots and has warned that without that it may have to file for bankruptcy. In afternoon trading Wednesday, Delta shares were down 5 cents, or 1.2 percent, at $4.04 on the New York Stock Exchange. On the Net: www.delta.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2004 AP