2,100 want Delta buyout

Delta Air Lines said more than 2,100 employees have signed up to take buyouts as the company seeks to reduce its work force.

Delta said in an internal update to its employees Wednesday that the next step is to determine how the number of volunteers meets the company’s needs, based on its schedule for the fall and into 2010. Delta plans to cut its flight capacity by 6 percent to 8 percent this year.

“We will be thoughtful, yet decisive, in managing through this global recession,” said Delta’s vice president of talent diversity and field human resources Cynthia Per-Lee in the message to employees Wednesday. “In the end, we have to have the right size airplanes in the right markets to match the number of customers who want to buy tickets, and we have to have the right number of people to serve those customers.”

The company has not yet said whether it will also need to lay off employees. Delta chief executive Richard Anderson said in January that he expected about 2,000 employees to take the buyouts. Delta, which merged with Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest Airlines last fall, has about 75,000 employees. Buyouts of 2,100 would amount to about 2.8 percent of employees.

The window for employees to sign up for the voluntary severance and early-out programs closed last week.

Last year, Delta cut more than 4,000 employees through buyouts.