By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Delta Air Lines' pilots union has taken another look at the struggling carrier's finances and said Thursday it's ready to return to the negotiating table with a new proposal.

Leaders of Delta's branch of the Air Line Pilots Association said they had voted to move to resume talks after a three-day meeting in Los Angeles this week. The 8,000-member union includes nearly 900 pilots based in Cincinnati, Delta's second-largest hub.

Union leaders "received a comprehensive financial update from our economic experts and investment bankers," said a telephone message from the union's Master Executive Council, which voted to reopen negotiations at the meeting. "As has been reported, Delta is under considerable pressure due to increasing fuel costs and declining yields."

Talks have yet to be scheduled, but Delta spokeswoman Tanya Wagner said the airline was "encouraged" by the union's new stance.

Delta wants to cut pilot pay by 30 percent and increase productivity. Officials at the Atlanta-based airline say high pilot costs are a major obstacle to Delta returning to profitability, and have raised the possibility of bankruptcy if a deal is not reached.

Delta has lost more than $3 billion in the last three years.

The airline lost $383 million in the first quarter of 2004.

The union initially countered with an offer of 9 percent, and complained about the company's stance that the 30 percent cut was the absolute minimum it could take.

In an interview Thursday at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, before the union leaders' message was made public, Delta senior vice president and chief of operations Joe Kolshak said he understood that the union was upset.

Kolshak acknowledged the airline could take fewer concessions, but said such an approach would only put a "Band-aid on the situation."

"What's on the table today needs to be deeper than that," he said. "The problem is that we are not solving the issue that has been created by changing buying patterns, Internet shopping patterns and the advent of low-cost carriers. We recognized early on that these cuts needed to be pretty dramatic for us to compete."

Kolshak also is a former full-time pilot, and stays current on the Boeing 767 by flying routes twice a month or so with other full-time pilots in the cockpit. He would not speculate on whether a deal would happen. "But I can say I have not met a pilot yet who is not willing to do what it takes to turn this airline around," Kolshak said.

Spokeswoman Karen Miller said the union's "proposal will address the company's needs, the pilots' needs and the necessity for a comprehensive restructuring," without providing any further details on a potential offer.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com