Winners and Losers from Delta’s New Pilot Contract

Delta Air Line pilots approved their new contract last week.  While all details are not available, there are some clear winners and losers:

Winners:

Delta Air Line mainline pilots: they get a 30% pay raise over four years

Other US airlines (and maybe airline pilots in Europe): they will want what Delta pilot’s got

Delta Air Lines itself: pilot labor peace for a four-year period

Bombardier: Bombardier has an aircraft that fits within Delta’s pilot scope limits

Losers:

The traveling public: higher fares to support the pilot’s pay

Delta’s shareholders: Delta lowered its profit forecast due to its new pilot contract

Embraer and Mitsubishi:  their newest aircraft (Embraer’s E175 E2 and Mitsubishi’s MRJ90) are both too heavy to fit within Delta’s pilot scope clause which limits (among other things) the weight of the aircraft that a regional airline can fly for Delta (86,000 lbs. maximum takeoff weight); Embraer has now delayed the entry into service of its E175 E2 to 2021 (was 2020) as a result