ATLANTA, March 27, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) remains on track to complete all MD-88 maintenance re-inspections by late today and expects to resume normal operations Friday morning, March 28, 2008.
In a statement to customers on its web site, Delta said:
"Dear Delta Customer,
We are very sorry for any inconvenience the MD-88 re-inspections may have caused you and realize fully that our decision to conduct this review may have negatively impacted your travel plans. However, at Delta we take safety requirements very seriously and moved quickly to take voluntary action in addressing the issue. Though these re-inspections impacted the travel plans of many of our customers, safety is our No. 1 priority at Delta and conducting these inspections proactively was the right decision.
Delta is already taking steps to communicate with Delta SkyMiles members whose flights were canceled as a result of the MD-88 re-inspections. However, if you are a customer who is not part of the SkyMiles program and you experienced an MD-88 flight cancellation as a result of the re-inspection, you may contact Delta via a special form found on delta.com. You'll be asked to provide your contact and flight information so you may be contacted and assisted by a Delta representative.
Many of you have already heard from Delta after signing up for our customer notification system, Delta Messenger, or worked with Delta's reservation agents and airport customer service agents to be reaccommodated for canceled flights.
We once again apologize for any inconvenience this may have had on you and your travel plans and hope that you can understand how important safety is to everything we do at Delta.
Sincerely, Steve Gorman Delta Air Lines Executive Vice President - Operations"
Delta yesterday began working in full partnership with the FAA to proactively and voluntarily revalidate the full compliance of a prior Airworthiness Directive completed earlier this year. Delta expects this voluntary review, which is taking place on the airline's 117 MD-88 aircraft, to result in approximately 275 cancellations through early Friday, impacting about 3 percent of Delta's worldwide flight schedule. Based on the aggressive and proactive re-inspection schedule, Delta expects inspections to be complete on approximately 70 percent of its MD-88 fleet by early Thursday evening, with normal operations planned by early Friday. The majority of impacted customers have already worked with Delta reservation agents and gate agents to be reaccommodated or receive refunds for canceled flights.
Delta Air Lines operates service to more worldwide destinations than any airline with Delta and Delta Connection flights to 315 destinations in 59 countries. Delta has added more international capacity than any major U.S. airline during the last two years and is the leader across the Atlantic with flights to 36 trans-Atlantic markets. To Latin America and the Caribbean, Delta offers more than 650 weekly flights to 65 destinations. Delta's marketing alliances also allow customers to earn and redeem SkyMiles on nearly 14,000 flights offered by SkyTeam and other partners. Delta is a founding member of SkyTeam, a global airline alliance that provides customers with extensive worldwide destinations, flights and services. Including its SkyTeam and worldwide codeshare partners, Delta offers flights to 744 worldwide destinations in 151 countries. Customers can check in for flights, print boarding passes and check flight status at delta.com.
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