By James Pilcher
Enquirer staff writer

Delta Air Lines Thursday presented an equity-sharing plan and other incentives to induce its pilots to agree to more than $1 billion worth of concessions, including a 35 percent pay cut.

The talks in Atlanta marked the first time that the two sides have met since Delta presented its proposal July 30.

The 7,500-member pilot union, which includes about 800 local members, said that it would not resume talks until Delta gave more details on the equity-sharing program the pilots had requested.

Delta, the nation's No. 3 carrier, operates its second-largest hub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, home to more than 8,000 workers from Delta and its Erlanger-based subsidiary Comair.

Neither side discussed specifics late Thursday, with the union saying that its negotiation team was reviewing the company proposal. Delta's stock dropped a penny to close at $4.06 after a two-day rally.

Delta has warned that if it does not get the pilot concessions and cut another $1 billion from its cost structure in the "near term" that it would be forced to declare bankruptcy.

The negotiations occurred a day after Delta executives presented a vast turnaround plan to its board, a plan that included a fare restructuring in Cincinnati that was announced Thursday. Company chief Gerald Grinstein wrote Delta workers after Wednesday's meeting that the plan was on track, but that job cuts and restructured pay and benefits would be needed to make it happen.

The pilots initially offered concessions worth up to $705 million a year in a package that included productivity increases, benefit cuts and a 23 percent pay cut. The company responded with its package that includes the larger pay cut and major changes to the pilots' pension plan as well as more aggressive productivity increases.

Analyst Jim Higgins of Credit Suisse Equity Research wrote in a note Thursday that the two sides may be too far apart to reach an agreement.

When it comes to the equity share, "our sense ... is that the pilots have a much richer equity stake in mind than does DAL senior management."

He also said the company is probably balking at the pilot request for a full voting seat on the board of directors; the pilots now have a non-voting advisory seat on the board.

"We are not yet convinced that the carrier will succeed in its valiant and well-conceived effort to reach a sustainable cost structure without a Chapter 11 reorganization," Higgins wrote.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com.