Buyout info trickles out

Delta Air Lines gave more details Friday on the work force reduction plan it signaled last week.

In a memo to employees Friday, Delta said it would offer voluntary severance programs to the majority of its 75,000 employees starting in January. The programs are similar to one offered earlier this year where Delta cut about 4,000 employees through voluntary retirements and separations.

The new buyout programs, however, are offered to a broader range of employees. With slight differences, they will apply to employees of Delta and Northwest, which finalized a merger in October.

The company would not say how many jobs it plans to cut.

“Specific reductions vary by workgroup and operating carrier,” Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian wrote in the memo. “We are working to finalize those numbers now and will share more details prior to the opening of the enrollment window,” which is Jan. 15.

The company said in a Dec. 2 investor call that it planned to cut its flight capacity by 6 percent to 8 percent in 2009 and shrink its work force.

That will include an international capacity cut by a net amount of 3 percent to 5 percent next year, ending several years of growth since Delta began pursuing an international network strategy in 2005.

Bastian said the airline would pull its existing international capacity down about 8 percent to 9 percent through moves such as flying less on some routes, while growing about 4 percent by expanding into other markets.

Delta is offering two voluntary severance programs. The first one, the so-called 55-point program, is for employees with 10 or more years of service and whose age and years of service add up to at least 55.

Delta will use Dec. 31, 2009, to measure completed years of service and age, the memo said.

The second program, the so-called early-out program, is for employees who don’t qualify for the first but who are “frontline/contract ground” and flight attendant employees with five or more years of service as of Dec. 31, 2009. It is also for salaried employees hired before Jan. 1, 2009.

Pilots and salaried employees in information technology and general managerial levels or above are not eligible for the voluntary programs, the memo said.

Employees who are eligible will be notified by e-mail by Dec. 17.

The memo pointed out that the documents outlining the voluntary programs will be slightly different for Delta and former Northwest employees because “some distinctions currently remain between pre-merger Delta and pre-merger Northwest benefits programs.”

Delta, whose seven hubs include a New York hub and Northwest’s Detroit hub, has seen weakness among corporate customers in the financial sector and the automotive industry.