Delta pilots vote to OK new labor contract

Delta Air Lines Inc. pilots ratified a new contract, the Air Line Pilots Association reported Friday.
ALPA said 94 percent of 10,170 eligible Delta pilots cast a ballot. Of those, 62 percent voted to approve the new agreement, which begins July 1 and runs through Dec. 31, 2015.
An Aviation Week report published earlier this week said the new contract could save Delta $473 million in engine maintenance, Bombardier CRJ200 ownership and Delta Connection contract costs. The proposed new pilot contract includes terms that would enable Atlanta-based Delta (NYSE: DAL) to drop almost 200, 50-seat aircraft from its network by the end of 2015
Last week, Pinnacle Airlines Corp. announced that it was halting labor negotiations while it reformulated its business plan in reaction to the new Delta pilot contract. After it emerges from bankruptcy protection, 140 of Pinnacle’s 181 aircraft will be 50-seat CRJ-200s, the exact planes Delta's new pilot agreement will phase out.