The NYT ran a story today about DL's pension situation. Here is a brief paragraph and the link:

November 17, 2006
Offer for Delta Raises Questions on Some Pensions

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
US Airways’ bid for Delta Air Lines has cast new
uncertainty over the pensions of roughly 90,000 Delta
employees and retirees, just months after a new law
was supposed to have assured their future.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/bu...ss/17pension.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Here is Delta's response to the article:

The New York Times Letter-to-the-Editor

Re: Response to today’s article regarding Delta pension funding
Dear Editor:

Today’s article in The New York Times incorrectly implies that Delta has not yet elected the relief available under the Pension Protection Act because we are “keeping our options open.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Delta intends to preserve and fund this plan for our ground and flight attendant employees, and will include that as an important part of Delta’s Plan of Reorganization we plan to file with the bankruptcy court early next month. It will be yet another confirmation that, as we have committed to our employees, the PBGC and Congress, Delta plans to elect the airline pension relief for this plan on or before emerging from bankruptcy.

Why hasn’t Delta elected relief for this plan yet? Simple. The amortization payments required under the legislation start right after the relief is elected. Electing relief just before emergence allows us to utilize the relief that Congress gave us and this is important as we all work hard to prepare for exiting Chapter 11. It is important to note that with the passage of pension reform legislation this plan is affordable.

Finally, it is also flatly incorrect to imply that Delta’s pilot plan was terminated because the “relief came too late to save” it. As has been repeatedly stated, there are unique features of that plan – lump sums and liquidity shortfalls – that the Pension Protection Act did not address in any way.

Delta is grateful to Congress for passing the legislation that makes keeping this plan possible, and we have been and remain fully committed to doing so. It’s the right thing to do for our employees and for Delta.

Sincerely,
Jerry Grinstein