Delta may have to rehire 1,060 pilots

Delta Air Lines may have to rehire 1,060 pilots laid off after the September 11, 2001 attacks at a cost of more than $100 million annually, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.

The move comes as a result of an arbitration panel ruling that furloughed pilots could return to their jobs should the airline see its passenger numbers return to the level Delta had before the disaster, the Journal said.

The No. 3 U.S. airline this week told its airline pilots union that the carrier had reached passenger levels that could trigger the rehiring from December 2003 through March 2004, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.

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Delta just barely reached the volumes that would trigger a pilot recall, the Journal said, and the pilots' union and airline may ask the panel that decided the rule for clarification on the data, the Journal said.

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The pilot rehiring would cost the airline about $115 million in annual wages, excluding benefits, the Journal said.

A Delta spokesman acknowledged giving the data to the pilots' union, the Journal said, but declined to discuss the data. A Delta representative could not be immediately reached for comment by Reuters.