Sometimes silence can speak volumes.
That was more true than ever Thursday at the Salt Lake City International Airport, where Delta Air Lines pilots came together in silent solidarity, holding signs to protest the airline giant’s scheduling practices that they say have caused pilots to fly long days and nights or work additional days to keep the airline in operation.
at @slcairport where Delta pilots are protesting the companies scheduling practices that they say have caused pilots to fly long days or work additional days to keep the airline in operation. pic.twitter.com/8GtkLrNP9k
— Logan Stefanich (@loganstefanich) April 7, 2022
“We’re out here today to send a message to Delta management: Our pilots are tired, they’re fatigued,” said Evan Baach, a Delta pilot. “The company is not staffing the airline appropriately with pilots; they’re staffing more flights with fewer pilots.”
Baach said this staffing practice has many pilots concerned that there isn’t enough “wiggle room” in the system to account for a bad weather day or other operational issues that can cause flight delays or cancellations.
During Thursday’s picketing at the Salt Lake City International Airport, over 50 pilots congregated outside of the Terminal 1 departure area holding signs that read, “If I look tired, it’s because I am,” and “Fatiguing schedules = poor reliability.”
Last December’s period of bustling holiday travel that stretched into early January led to a combination of factors that caused thousands of flight cancellations for Delta and other carriers. Among those factors were short-staffing, winter storms and a surge in COVID-19 cases that meant more pilots were out sick.
“We’ve flown record amounts of overtime during the pandemic to help Delta operate its schedule and get our passengers safely to their destinations. In many cases, pilots are flying long after their day or trip was supposed to end. Delta cannot continue to…