In November of 2021, the Delta MEC gave the Company a 90-day window to significantly improve rotations. 90-Days came and went, and little improvements were made. Therefore, your MEC has staged picketing events across the Delta system for pilots to join, shoulder-to-shoulder, to put Delta management on notice that we have had enough. Please find details about the picketing events here.

Staffing Decisions Re-Hash
The following is a quick recap of management’s decisions that have impacted staffing:

• In 2018, Delta used the optimizer software to uncover staffing efficiencies that resulted in the decision to pause pilot hiring for six months.
• The most noticeable effect of this hiring freeze was felt during the summer of 2019 when even Flight Operations Management acknowledged that the operation was run “too hot.”
• During the time before hiring resumed in late 2018, hundreds of pilots retired, leaving a gaping hole in the pilot ranks that we have yet to climb out of.

Moving forward, while the pandemic has had a profound and lasting impact on Delta and the industry, there were several opportunities for Delta to re-set its broken pilot staffing issue. During the initial dark days of the pandemic, ALPA and the Company negotiated mutually beneficial, and industry leading, staffing solutions (SILs, VEOP) to help stem the cash burn by reducing the number of active pilots.

Several things occurred:

• Delta reneged on its agreement to utilize SILs, which was intended to help with short-term excess staffing.
• ALPA advised the Company to hold off on the planned displacement bid (MOAD) until after the total VEOP retirement numbers were realized, but Delta management did the opposite and allowed for unnecessary displacements, which has caused an almost never-ending training cycle that we are still working through today.

Lack of Staffing Buffers
Currently, where we are seeing a record number of Green Slips/assignments being awarded every month. As the need for pilots goes up, and the buffer (surplus) between pilots available and pilots required goes down, the pilot group is left with rotations “optimized” for productivity, with increasing demand for more coverage. So, if it feels like you are working more and seeing less control over your schedule – you are right; you are.

The trends became most noticeable starting in March 2021. As block hours increased, the existing staffing buffer essentially disappeared. The lack of a staffing buffer decreases the Company’s ability to operate during unplanned events such as inclement weather, maintenance, sick and fatigue calls, etc. This, in turn, creates more assignments/Green Slip opportunities.

To put the Green Slip numbers in perspective: from March to December 2021, the total number of Green Slips awarded was 56% higher than those issued over the same period in 2019 and 182% greater than 2018!

What the Company Must Do

Delta management must listen to their frontline leaders, the Delta pilots. The pilot group and ALPA have a front seat view of the operation and have continued to provide insight and input to Delta management about mutually beneficial means to solve their problems. Unfortunately, as proven over the past few years, pilot input largely falls on deaf ears.

Delta pilots are tired of empty promises and hollow management platitudes. The only “Thank you” the Delta pilots desperately want is actual and measurable improvements to their quality of life. Management recently stated “Sometimes, the data trends highlight how rotations are affected by influences outside of our control, such as aircraft deployment changes or realignment of hub bank structures.” Outside of their control? More often than not, however, these operational issues are in fact company decisions and clearly subject to the company’s control.

If the pilot group is to see any improvement in quality of life, Flight Operations management must push back on Network demands and say enough is enough.

Your Legal Responsibility

We have heard from many of you, and we have shared directly with management at the highest levels that our current rotations are fatigue inducing. The operation relies upon pilots as the last line of defense - which is the pilot calling in fatigued if necessary. Remember, it is not your fault if you were assigned a fatiguing rotation. It is not your fault if passengers, or fellow crew, are delayed or possibly stranded because of poor rotation construction. Delta will always take care of our customers.

The bottom line: you have the legal obligation and a right to stop the operation when you are fatigued. Then, call the Delta Duty Pilot if you are not fit for duty or fatigued. Fatigue is an individual decision, and each pilot is required to assess their own fitness before every flight.

It is more important than ever to ensure your individual fitness for duty before every leg. Click here to view and download the Fatigue Checklist to use as your iPad background. If you feel pressure to “complete the mission” but you feel fatigued (or will be at some point later during your duty period) make an easy call to the Delta Duty Pilot (888-676-7737).