By John Byczkowski
Enquirer staff writer

Delta Air Lines said Friday that its pilots' offer of a 23 percent pay cut isn't enough to help the airline avoid bankruptcy. Its counterproposal included a 35 percent pay cut and changes to the pilots' pension plan.

Last week's offer from the Delta unit of the Air Line Pilots Association would save the airline up to $705 million annually, but Delta CEO Gerald Grinstein said Delta needs a minimum of $1 billion in savings from the pilots.

Delta did not make the counterproposal public, but in a letter to pilots, Grinstein appealed for cooperation. Delta "proposed certain pension plan changes for ALPA's consideration and input which ... are designed to achieve viability, preserve accrued benefits and provide a sustainable pension plan going forward."

The pilots' union responded late Friday, telling members of the pay-cut proposal. Union spokesman Chris Renkel, in a recorded message, said Delta's proposal lacked specifics on an economic restructuring of the airline and cuts other workers would take. "These items must be addressed" before the Delta pilots can respond, he said.

Delta has lost more than $5 billion in the last three years. The airline has 4,300 employees in Greater Cincinnati, including 900 pilots based at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

Winning changes to the pension plan could be tough, "tougher than salaries and work rules," said Raymond Neidl, airline analyst for Blaylock & Partners in New York. "Pensions are sacred, especially among the pilots, because they're so large. It's going to be difficult to reform that, but it's something that probably has to be done."

Neidl said if he were a Delta pilot, he would look seriously at Delta's proposal "and decide, do I want to work with management to save the company from bankruptcy, or do I want to take my chances in bankruptcy where it could get even worse?"

E-mail johnb@enquirer.com