One thing is for certain: Delta Air Lines will not be hiring new pilots for a very, very long time. I'm hopeful that furloughs can be avoided due to an eventual early retirement offer package hopefully offered sometime over the next two months, SIL's offered each month until demand returns to a pre-negotiated level and to the large number of retirements that are going to occur starting in 2021 and continue through 2026 and beyond (3,712 pilots will retire between 2021 and 2025 based on ALPA's pilot dashboard, not to mention the 436 slated to retire in 2020). Between today and 12/31/2025 the March 2020 seniority list will shrink by 28% due to retirements. Of course Delta will not wait 5 years to reduce payroll costs but the sheer volume of retirements likely means a furlough lasting a maximum of 3 years. I have a feeling however that this will not be enough to totally avoid furloughs but I'm hoping that the number furloughed is extremely low and/or the time spent on furlough is less than one year.

If you're in the bottom 2,000 (that includes me) it is better to mentally and fiscally prepare for the worst now than be shocked and caught off guard when that notice arrives on September 1, 2020.