Frequent Delta Air Lines passengers might’ve noticed more delays in recent months. Severe weather and air traffic controller staffing have been two culprits.
But the Atlanta-based airline has also had a bad run as of late caused by pilot staffing.
It hasn’t escaped the attention of Delta’s executive leaders and its pilot union, and the issue has come to the fore weeks into new contract negotiations.
The stakes are high as the airline heads into its busiest time of the year: summer.
In an interview, Delta’s pilots union head Eric Criswell told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution the airline has been shifting to what’s known as “irregular operations” even without “some big catalyst event” like a storm.
“In the past, if it was a really nasty line of weather or a blizzard, obviously every airline is going to struggle in those situations,” said Criswell, chair of the Delta unit of the Air Line Pilots Association.
“But more recently, we’re seeing those sorts of disruptions happen on days where we don’t have huge events like that. And it comes down to, we need to have the resources to run the airline.”
Delta’s cancellations from pilot staffing are up more than tenfold over historical levels, according to a company memo released late last week.
The issue is driving 35% of its cancellations — nearly quadruple the 2024 rate.
Criswell argues a lag in pilot hiring and challenges in the company’s crew scheduling and tracking departments are to blame. He says his negotiating team has ideas of how to improve things.
Delta management counters it has significantly boosted pilot staffing and is making changes in its scheduling operation.
While Delta had been leading the industry in on-time performance, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium, it fell behind competitors United and Southwest Airlines this winter.
In March, Delta’s on-time rate was 79%, down from 86% a year earlier.
Ryan Gumm, Delta’s senior vice president of flight operations, in a memo late last week to the company’s more than 17,000 pilots, acknowledged that the airline’s “recovery performance has been inconsistent and has not met our standards.”
He said other issues, like increasing severe weather and air traffic control disruption, are beyond Delta’s control. But he also flagged aircraft and crew availability, things that do fall under Delta’s control.
“Rest assured that improving Delta’s operational resilience has the full attention of the senior-most leaders in the organization, and we are confident in the path forward,” Gumm said.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
‘Deflecting responsibility’
Delta CEO Ed Bastian acknowledged to investors earlier this month that the airline’s reliability has faltered.
He pointed to “challenges that have resulted in contractual changes to our pilot working agreement that came into effect over the past year” and said the airline was “partnering with our pilots and union leadership.”
But Criswell told the AJC the bulk of their current union contract was implemented by early 2024. The contract runs through the end of 2026 but does not technically expire.
In a memo to members last week, he fired back, saying pilots have stepped up to fly “on their days off in record numbers” to keep planes flying.
“Attempts to blame our pilots for management’s failures are aimed at deflecting responsibility and driving a wedge between the pilot group, other employees at Delta, and the traveling public,” he wrote.
“Mismanagement of resources, lack of proper tools and training for Crew Schedulers, and numerous misguided attempts to pinch pennies during the 2025 ‘centennial’ celebration set Delta on this unfortunate and avoidable path,” he said.
A “huge factor” behind the current situation is Delta’s pause in pilot hiring in the back half of last year, Criswell told the AJC, leaving them with “razor-thin reserves” as the airline’s operation has grown.
While hiring is back on pace this year, it will take time to catch up, he said.
Gumm, in his memo, noted the airline has “accelerated” pilot hiring and front-loaded it into the beginning of the year.
He added the company has 20% more pilots than in 2019, even though it has only seen a 7% increase in flying hours, and increased pilot reserve levels 10% year over year, ahead of an anticipated summer crunch.
The airline had just over 13,000 pilots at the end of 2019.
Gumm instead pointed to the fact that the “acceptance rate” of pilots agreeing to trips offered by scheduling has plummeted from 37% to 2%.
That has tripled the time it takes to find pilots to cover flights, he said.
But Criswell countered that the airline ended 2025 with fewer pilots than it started.
And he argued that comparing pilot headcount to flying hours leaves out the fact that some flights — like international long-haul trips — require more than two pilots.
He said the drop in acceptances is a symptom of the pilot staffing strain and overtime work: “I think there comes a point where you hit a limit of what people are willing to do.”
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez
A ‘mountainous task’
Delta’s crew scheduling and tracking operation is responsible for matching pilots and flight attendants to flights.
When something disrupts the schedule, the workload jumps.
It’s a “mountainous task to keep 4,000-5,000 flights a day going with pilots staffed in those airplanes,” Criswell said.
And the department has seen “a lot of turnover” recently, he said.
On top of that, “They’re using a patchwork of systems that, jokingly, some of them are as old or older than I am. That’s the reality of the job they have to do. It’s a difficult job.”
Last July, a few hours of Atlanta summer thunderstorms wreaked havoc on the airline for days, causing thousands of flight cancellations and delays.
The pilots and dispatchers unions banded together to blame the airline’s antiquated information technology systems and tight staffing, including in scheduling.
Gumm said the airline is making changes to the department.
Delta has boosted crew tracker and scheduler staffing by 15% since last summer and is “increasing the adoption of new technology,” he said.
It is also “adding experienced leaders within the day-of-operations team to strengthen execution,” particularly call response times to pilots waiting to figure out where to go next.
“Our operation today is far more complex than it was 15 years ago, yet many elements of trip coverage, scheduling practices, and pilot access haven’t evolved at the same pace. We can’t rely on old structures and expect improved outcomes,” Gumm wrote.
“Summer is upon us,” he wrote.
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