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($33-billion)

That's how much the six legacy carriers have lost since 2001. The pain intensifies as Delta and Northwest sing the same refrain: costly fuel.

ATLANTA - Losses reported by two major airlines Thursday - Delta and Northwest - pushed red ink at the six big legacy carriers to nearly $33-billion since 2001, when terrorist attacks led to an industry tailspin exacerbated by high labor costs and now, four years later, by expensive fuel.

There doesn't appear to be an end in sight to the suffering. With losses expected to get worse, some executives, particularly at Delta Air Lines, are touting employee pension reform as a way to help ease the financial bleeding.

Pensions aside, high fuel prices are the most immediate threat to the major carriers, and many have blamed the issue for contributing to their first-quarter losses. Saying record fuel prices are masking the success it's had cutting costs elsewhere, Delta reported a nearly $1.1-billion first-quarter loss Thursday, the highest among its peers in the January-March period.

Also Thursday, Northwest Airlines Corp. reported a $458-million loss and Alaska Air Group Inc., operator of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, posted an $80.5-million loss. Discount carrier JetBlue Airways Corp. posted a $7-million profit, a 54 percent drop from last year.

At Delta, the nation's third-largest carrier, chief executive Gerald Grinstein was blunt in describing the issues facing his company. "Including fuel, Delta is not on plan, but excluding fuel, we are better than plan," he said.

Looking ahead, Delta indicated that its situation could get worse because of projected further increases in fuel prices.

It said that every 1 cent increase in the average annual cost per gallon of jet fuel costs Delta roughly $25-million in additional fuel expense per year. Delta's business plan assumes an average fuel price per gallon in 2005 of $1.22. However, it said Thursday that projections call for crude oil prices to be substantially higher for 2005 than Delta's business plan, and the airline has no hedges or contractual arrangements in place that would reduce its jet fuel costs below market prices.

Ray Neidl, an airline analyst at Calyon Securities Inc. in New York, said fuel is the more pressing issue at Delta, though he noted the carrier's pension obligations are an issue, too.

"They sounded pretty pessimistic about fuel increases," Neidl said after listening to Delta executives speak to investors. "At the end of this year, some decisions will have to be made whether they can access the capital market or sell nonstrategic assets."

Delta's losses total $9.6-billion since January 2001. Delta, Northwest and the nation's four other big legacy carriers have lost nearly $33-billion combined over the four years. That total could deepen because United Airlines parent UAL Corp. and US Airways Group Inc. have yet to report their results. The other legacy carriers, those with a large presence in multiple regions prior to deregulation in 1978, are American Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc.

At Northwest, officials are pushing for labor cost cuts in the wake of high fuel prices. Chief executive Doug Steenland repeated Thursday his goal of $1.1-billion in labor concessions.

Delta's Grinstein said during Thursday's investor conference call that he supports a bill sponsored by Sens. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., that would give airlines the option of spreading the funding of their pension plans over 25 years instead of four.

The pension reform legislation would require airlines to agree to limit their pension liability by partially or totally freezing benefits. Employees would be eligible for the benefits they've earned up to the date of the freeze but no additional benefits would accrue unless the airline pays for them immediately. An airline would have to get the approval of its employee unions before choosing one of the options in the bill.

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 00:43:11]