Delta Seen Lining Up Bankruptcy Financing

[Roland99]

http://www.smartmoney.com/bn/smw/index.cfm?story=20050815093325

NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) has begun arranging the financing it will need if it seeks bankruptcy protection, something Wall Street analysts, industry executives and finance experts say could happen within weeks, The New York Times reported, citing people with direct knowledge of Delta's actions.

The Atlanta-based airline is holding discussions with lenders like GE Commercial Finance, which provided it restructuring money last year and could do so again, in or out of bankruptcy, the Times said in its Saturday edition.

The airline is also exploring the sale or refinancing of its two commuter lines, Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines. And it is looking for more savings from employees, who have already taken $1.4 billion a year in wage and benefit cuts, although it does not plan to reduce wages, the report said.

http://quotes.freerealtime.com/dl/frt/N?tmn_id={62AB8400-400C-4460-B6C4-D8A626DDE82F}

The airline sector was under pressure after The New York Times reported over the weekend Delta Air Lines is lining up the financing needed for bankruptcy protection. (DAL) unveiled Delta stock fell 10% to $1.45.

[Tesha]

1. Golly gee, how awful for them.

And who was it here last week telling me that (essentially) my views
of the ultimate fate of the airlines were too Cassandra-like?

Tesha

[MADem]

2. What will they reduce, if not wages...benefits???

Their retirement package for flight attendants is FER SHIT. You have to work until old age to get anything. They now only have FAA minimum crews, so service is out the window already, and the crews are exhausted at the end of their runs.

Some of the attendants have moved to SONG, but I understand that if they go to SONG, they cannot come back for two years--they sign an agreement to that effect. Could be they'll dump those guys and restructure SONG, and then tell those guys that if they still want to come back, we will see ya in two years.

They treat those poor folks like crap, IMO...