Delta Is Bringing All Its Pilots Off the Sidelines: Will Passengers Follow?
Photo Credit: Delta pilots pictured here in flight deck pre-pandemic during a ferry flight from New York JFK to Orlando. Delta Air Lines / ©Rank Studios
Skift Take
Delta is taking a big chance with a forward-looking perspective by re-engaging pilots. Whether it's doing the right thing, or setting itself up for failure, will become much more clear in the months ahead.
After being sidelined for nearly a year, every one of Delta's 1,713 pilots is being returned to active service after the global pandemic brought flying to a screeching halt during this week last March.
The pilots, all of whom the Atlanta-based airline kept on the payroll with minimum pay, remained on the airline's no-fly list throughout the pandemic, based on an agreement between Delta and the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) to protect the pilots from being furloughed.
In an internal document reviewed this week by Skift, the company announced to its employees in February that it would be returning all of its pilots to active status in anticipation of a surge in travel in 2022, and a return to 2019 levels in 2023.
Delta, like most
