By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Delta Air Lines' pilot union Wednesday night said they were asking the company to start reinstating the more than 1,000 pilots who were laid off following the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The Atlanta-based airline's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association has told the company that certain criteria set last year by an independent arbitrator have been met for the gradual recall of the pilots.

"The triggers have been met ... and we are confident that the company will abide by the ruling," said Karen Miller, spokeswoman for the association, which includes nearly 8,000 members - almost 800 of whom are based at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

The company, which operates its second-largest hub locally, would not comment on whether it agreed that the trigger of a certain amount of passenger traffic had been met.

"We would be happy to discuss this with ALPA in the near future," Delta spokesman John Kennedy said Wednesday night.

The 1,060 pilots were laid off following the terror attacks despite a no-furlough clause in the 2000 union contract with the company. Neither the union nor the company would supply figures on how many local pilots were laid off.

The layoffs continue to be a sore point with pilots, especially since some of them came at the same time former top-level executives were awarded large financial bonuses.

Delta management now is seeking a 30 percent pilot pay cut plus a freeze on future raises and other concessions to cut costs as it continues to struggle financially. It lost $383 million in the first quarter alone, pushing its loss over the last three years above $3 billion.

The company had justified the layoffs with a clause that stipulates that they could be triggered by extraordinary circumstances, such as war. Last year, the pilots argued that the company should not be able to use the justification any more.

An independent arbitrator said last year that if passenger traffic matched or exceeded pre-Sept. 11 traffic for a rolling four-month period, then the pilots should be gradually recalled.

That arbitrator would be used again to determine whether the criteria for the recalls have been met if the two sides disagree.

Wednesday night's move comes just five days after Delta's relatively calm annual shareholders meeting in Atlanta ended with both sides in the labor dispute hardening their positions.

Recently installed chief executive officer Gerald Grinstein told union leaders Friday that management could not budge from its request for 30-percent pay cuts and union officials responding that negotiations, then, are over.

Grinstein has repeatedly insisted that cutting pilot costs is the main way that the airline can regain its financial footing.

The union has offered a 9 percent pay cut and a freeze on future raises.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com