Delta pumping nearly $1B into retirement plans
(AP) – 3 hours ago

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines says it is on track to contribute nearly $1 billion to its employees' retirement plans this year, and it is providing some of the funding earlier than previously scheduled.

The world's biggest airline said Thursday that by the end of April it will have contributed $665 million to its traditional pension plans in the first four months of this year, in addition to $100 million that has been contributed to employees' defined contribution 401(k) plans.

Another roughly $200 million is scheduled to be contributed to 401(k) plans during the balance of the year.

Delta, based in Atlanta, says its pension funding is normally distributed throughout the year, with the majority of contributions being added near the end of the year.

Who's pensions, management's? DAL FA's pensions were basically fried around the same time ours were. So all the front line employees have no real pensions. I guess folks with lots of years left can theoretically have a pension.

I have flown both the MD-11 and the MD-90/88. That upgrade mod would be awesome. Looks like a simplistic version of the 11. I would be surprised to see it happen, but it sure would be nice. Probably still cheaper in the long run than any new replacements, but other than standardization, what we be the reason for doing the mods?

Many of the other employee pensions are alive and well. Many groups were not eligible after a certain date, but I know many FA's that have decent pensions.

20 years and my wife only has a teeny tiny pension. It's truly pathetic.

Yeah, I beleive that many of the ones that are decent belong to employees that have been here much longer.

Also, I do believe that they need to still fund all of the NWA pensions as well.

They haven't even updated all the 757/767's with Pegasus, let alone a huge cockpit mod. I think we started getting Pegasus back in 96 or 97. So over 10 years have passed and DAL hasn't even bothered with that simple mod. Maybe things are changing. We shall see.

Agreed, but NextGen has a few floor requirements that we cannot get around. The Pegasus upgrade though nice generally does not add much to the flight from a ROI perspective.

Even though we lost ours, I think we should fight to keep theirs. Misery loves company, but not in this case. The NWA's pensions were frozen, so I'm not sure what is in store for them.

I like your theory. Please elaborate.

There are certain items that will be needed in a next gen cockpit. EFIS and glass in general provides a lot of what will be required. GPS upgrades, as well as a cpdlc will be the bridge to the sat base ATC system that next gen will usher in.

I was told about a year ago that they were working on a presentation to the BOD for the 767/757 retro fit. It was on or near the two year desired ROI, so they were fairly bullish on its prospects.

I have not checked back to see what its status is. As you know things move slowly around here and "soon" means in the next three to five years! :eek: