Delta plans to recall flight attendants

Updated: August 20, 2010 - 6:15 PM

Delta's CEO says the company needs more attendants for expanding international flights.

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Delta Air Lines, the world's largest carrier, said it will recall furloughed attendants and hire an undetermined number of new workers as it adds flights.

The airline expects to begin training the attendants in January and have them flying by mid-2011, Chief Executive Richard Anderson told employees in a recorded message Friday. He didn't say how many flight-attendant jobs the Atlanta-based carrier will fill.

Delta is adding international flights as the economy recovers and businesses resume travel. The airline said Aug. 4 that its passenger traffic across the Pacific Ocean rose 13 percent this year through July, while Latin American traffic increased 5.3 percent from the year-earlier period.

"We need lots of folks with language skills, given the extensive nature of our international network and the need to be able to communicate with passengers in their own language," Anderson said.

Delta offers furloughed employees a chance to return before new workers are hired. About 700 pre-merger Delta flight attendants remain on furlough, said Gina Laughlin, a company spokeswoman. No flight attendants from pre-merger Northwest Airlines remain on furlough, she added.

It was not immediately known which Delta hubs need more flight attendants. However, the carrier is adding flights between London and its hubs at Detroit and Atlanta starting Oct. 31, and is expanding facilities at New York's Kennedy airport for international routes.

Delta said last month it would fill 1,000 jobs at its 25 biggest U.S. airports to help with planes flying at near-record capacity and better cope with weather disruptions. Delta, with about 81,000 workers, has also announced plans to hire 240 pilots.

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS