"We are simply overstaffed, and we are faced with an incredibly difficult decision," Delta senior vice president of flight operations John Laughter wrote in a memo to pilots.will furlough nearly 2,000 pilots on October 1, the airline said in a memo to workers on Monday., but the airline is still overstaffed as travel demand recovers more slowly than initially expected.
The airline, which currently has about 11,200 active pilots, believes it will need just 9,450 pilots next summer, when it expects to see "the peak flying for the next 12-18 months," senior vice president of flight operations John Laughter wrote in a memo to pilots, seen by Business Insider. Airlines have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19, with travel demand collapsing early in the pandemic and making only modest recoveries since, hampered by summer spikes across the US.
More than 17,000 of the company's workers — nearly 20% of its workforce — have taken voluntary buyout packages as the October 1 furlough deadline has loomed. Delta and other airlines, which expect to emerge from the pandemic significantly smaller, have urged employees to take such buyouts or voluntary unpaid leave programs.
"Though we expect a multi-year recovery, we will work diligently to bring you back to Delta as soon as we can, if demand recovers better than we are anticipating," Laughter wrote.
No one's travelling anytime soon.