From: http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/delta/stories/2006/11/09/1110bizdeltawrap.html?cxntnid=biz111006e Delta nets profit, will recall 1,000 flight attendants By RUSSELL GRANTHAM Published on: 11/10/06 Delta Air Lines delivered a double dose of encouraging news Thursday, saying it had a profitable quarter and announcing plans to call back to work 1,000 idled flight attendants next year. The Atlanta-based carrier will begin by recalling 500 flight attendants in January. That move follows a recall of 200 in September. Meanwhile, Delta's $52 million profit for the late summer quarter was smaller than some rivals' financial gains. And the carrier benefited from a $98 million gain due to a bankruptcy-related restructuring. Without that one-time gain, it would have posted a $46 million loss. Still, Delta finance chief Ed Bastian said the numbers are a world away from the loss of $1.1 billion the airline posted in the year-earlier quarter, just after it filed for bankruptcy protection. Some of Delta's profit figures are still lower than those at American Airlines and other big network rivals, but "we had the biggest hole to dig out of, by a lot," Bastian said. "When I think how much farther we had to go just to get above the [break-even] line," he added, "we're absolutely on the right track." During the quarter, American, United and Continental were profitable and Northwest, also in Chapter 11, was profitable before counting various bankruptcy-related charges. However, discount carriers AirTran Airways and JetBlue lost money during the quarter. The third quarter is typically one of the airline industry's strongest periods because of heavy travel demand during the summer vacation months. Out of bankruptcy by spring? Bastian said Delta is on track to emerge from its Chapter 11 restructuring next spring, after eliminating thousands of jobs, cutting employees' pay, shedding 123 aircraft and making over its network to shift more flying from domestic to overseas routes it says are more profitable. Thursday, the nation's third-largest airline reversed course somewhat on some of those cost-cutting measures, saying it needs to bring back more workers to smooth out rough spots in its rapidly changing operations. Besides the 500-employee recall in January, Delta expects to recall 200 more flight attendants later next spring and 300 more next fall. Most will be based in its Atlanta hub or its growing New York hub. "It's great news for Atlanta," said Paulette Corbin, Delta's senior vice president in charge on inflight service. "We are recalling in just about all areas of the company. This is indicative that our plan is working." Delta is recalling the flight attendants because the carrier's 11,000 flight attendants ended up working more hours than anticipated this summer. "It was good for our company. It was hard on our people," said Corbin. She said flight attendants flew an average of 83 hours a month during the summer rather than the 79-hour average the airline projected. She said some flight attendants were running up against company duty hour limits. 'We're rebounding' Perry de Vlugt, a Delta flight attendant in Salt Lake City, said he's happy to see that the airline is expanding again. "We're rebounding," he said. "It's a sign of more growth after we've gone through cutback after cutback after cutback." He said most flight attendants had to work about three to five extra days a month during the summer because of the staff shortage. But he was relatively unaffected because he likes to work more than 100 hours per month ? more than most flight attendants. Corbin said the higher hours were partly the result of a larger expansion of its international operations than expected. Delta's efforts to catch up with other big network carriers that have long relied on larger, relatively lucrative overseas networks helped boost revenues during the quarter ended in September. Revenue rose 8 percent to $4.7 billion from the year-earlier quarter. Delta's unit revenues from its international operations rose more than 18 percent, while the same measure of U.S. fares rose a little over 3 percent. Delta's bottom line for the quarter was complicated by accounting related to its bankruptcy restructuring. While the carrier reported a $52 million profit for the quarter, it included a $98 million gain related to a revised estimate of cost savings from a big aircraft lease-concession deal. The airline said it had $2.8 billion in unrestricted cash at the end of the quarter, down from $3 billion the month before. In earlier monthly reports to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Delta had reported a $69 million profit in the busy July travel period, but an $11 million loss in August. In a similar report for the month of September, Delta said it lost $6 million. Bastian said Delta will likely lose money in the fourth quarter, but much less than in recent years. "You'll see a huge improvement," he said.