The capacity cuts mean Salt Lake City will lose another two routes on top of eight routes Delta has already said it will discontinue. The airline will trim the number of times it flies to other cities as it reduces Salt Lake capacity by an additional 4 percent, resulting in a 7 percent overall reduction at Delta's hub at Salt Lake City International Airport.
And the nation's No. 3 carrier will extend its buyout offer to 30,000 eligible employ- ees, hoping that plus attrition and retirements will lead to 2,000 fewer jobs, an action some of Delta's Salt Lake-based employees seemed to understand.
"You'd have to have your head in the sand if you don't realize Delta is hurting because of fuel costs. I really believe Delta is helping us by giving us options rather than a mandatory furlough," said Cindy Hanks, a Salt Lake City-based flight attendant.
The airline expects to eliminate 1,300 attendants, ticket agents, baggage handlers and other nonpilot frontline workers. But since it won't limit the number of people who elect to leave, the number may eventually be higher. Another 700 administrative and managerial jobs will go through voluntary severance or, if necessary, layoffs.
It's unclear how many jobs will be lost at the Salt Lake hub, where 3,500 people work for Delta. It's possible a large number of employees might accept buyouts. Delta's local force is a "senior" station, meaning many people have been with the airline a long time.
"Because we are offering bids to a number of employees, we do not know how that will ultimately impact Salt Lake City," spokesman Anthony Black said.
Nashville, Tenn., and El Paso, Texas, are the latest cities to lose service from Salt Lake. The Nashville route was eliminated Tuesday. El Paso flights will be eliminated at an undetermined time.
In January, Delta dropped routes from Salt Lake to six cities and said it would trim one flight a day to another 12 airports. On Friday, the carrier said it would end flights to Fargo, N.D., and Bellingham, Wash. By dropping Nashville and El Paso, Delta has now dropped 10 routes from its westernmost hub.
On Tuesday, the airline said more trims are in the offing, but didn't provide a number.
Since June, the airline has reduced the number of Salt Lake departures by 12 percent and destinations served by 11 percent.
"I think it's a move that is probably needed, given the fuel prices and the economy," said Salt Lake City-based pilot Ed Thiel. "No employee wants to see us moving backward, but I'd rather see a management team that's ahead of it rather than playing catch-up later."
In a letter to employees, CEO Richard Anderson and Ed Bastian, Delta's president and chief financial officer, said fuel prices - the airline's biggest expense - have jumped nearly 20 percent in the past three months and the airline's fuel bill this year is now expected to be $900 million more than predicted.
The airline expects to cut total U.S. capacity by another 5 percent on top of a 5 percent reduction announced in December. It intends to park or sell 15 to 20 mainline aircraft and 20 to 25 regional jets that burn too much fuel at today's prices, a move Thiel said was "huge."
While it reduces domestic flying, the airline will continue to expand international capacity, a move Delta has said has been the cornerstone of the carrier's successful exit from bankruptcy last April after 19 months of painful restructuring.
"This summer more than 40 percent of our capacity will be dedicated to international flying, where fares more readily cover higher fuel costs," Anderson and Bastian said.
Bastian also outlined the cost-saving steps in a speech Tuesday at a conference in New York. He declined to answer questions about a possible merger of Delta with another airline.
On Monday, Delta's pilots union said talks with its Northwest Airlines counterpart had collapsed over differences on how to mesh crucial pilot seniority lists. The impasse has raised serious doubts that a union of the two airlines is possible.
pbeebe@sltrib.com
