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Delta: Takeover will cost cities

It estimates 550 Tampa-area jobs could be lost in a US Airways buyout.

By STEVE HUETTEL
Published January 17, 2007

While airline executives, economists and lawyers debate how US Airways' hostile bid for Delta Air Lines could change the airline landscape, Delta and its workers are taking a narrower focus.

How would the blockbuster deal hit dozens of local communities in the pocketbook?

As part of a campaign to build public opposition to the bid, Delta put together an 18-state interactive map of potential job losses and other negative effects city by city.

Topping the list for Tampa: Delta's West Shore reservations center, which employs nearly 400. Other possible casualties include a base for 120 flight attendants and about 30 mechanic jobs at Tampa International Airport.

US Airways said it could squeeze out $1.65-billion in annual costs by merging the airlines, largely by reducing the combined fleets 10 percent and eliminating overlapping costs.

Delta pilot Rick Dominguez of Tampa said US Airways is soft pedaling what the merger means for Delta workers.

"They're very disingenuous with the use of the word 'synergies,' " Dominguez said. "That translates to cuts and layoffs."

No so, said US Airways spokesman Philip Gee. The airline pledges not to lay off or furlough employees outside of administrative jobs or management.

Since America West Airlines merged with US Airways last year, no "frontline" employees lost their jobs, although the carrier cut 15 percent of its flying, he said. US Airways has since recalled 700 workers and hired 4,000 new ones to make up for employees who left.

The airline "doesn't anticipate anything changing" at the Tampa reservations center, Gee said, but he hasn't been able to examine Delta's books.

That could change soon. Last week, US Airways increased its bid to $10.3-billion in cash and stock, up 20 percent from its original offer. The offer came with a Feb. 1 deadline for creditors of bankrupt Delta to endorse the bid.

Delta wants to emerge from Chapter 11 as a stand-alone carrier. An airline employee group, using part of its annual funding from Delta, launched a campaign to stay independent called Keep Delta My Delta.

They've handed out thousands of buttons to flight attendants and other employees and have a Web site, KeepDeltaMyDelta.com. The interactive map of jobs and services "at stake" appears on the site.

Delta's hub in Salt Lake City and focus city of Cincinnati may have the most to lose. US Airways flies from Western hubs in Las Vegas and Phoenix and operates a focus city in Pittsburgh.

President Scott Kirby told newspapers in both cities last week their airports would survive the merger without the loss of jobs or air service.

Employees at Delta's Tampa reservations center "were in a constant state of angst" last year as the airline decided where to cut jobs, said Mike Maharrey of St. Petersburg, who left his job as an agent there last summer. Delta instead closed a South Florida center with 500 workers and one in Montgomery, Ala., with 150 employees.

But most airlines have scaled back domestic reservations centers, sometimes contracting with cheaper overseas outfits in India and Latin America, said Darryl Jenkins, an airline consultant in northern Virginia.

"The whole idea of a merger is to have a certain level of service with fewer employees," Jenkins said. "Reservations centers are in danger all over."

US Airways hired 240 agents and recalled others last year after service problems with its foreign centers, Gee said.

Steve Huettel can be reached at huettel@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3384.

[Last modified January 17, 2007, 00:27:29]