ATLANTA (AP) – Delta Air Lines’ pilots union agreed Monday to allow the struggling carrier to bring pilots out of retirement on a limited basis to deal with staff shortages that threaten to ground flights.

The move came after the company agreed not to terminate the pilots’ pension plan before February even if it files for bankruptcy.

The tentative agreement must be ratified by the 7,500 active Delta pilots. The nation’s third-largest airline has warned that it would have to file for bankruptcy if did not stem a wave of early pilot retirements by the end of September.

The agreement still does not resolve Delta’s larger problem: getting the pilots to agree to $1 billion in concessions. The Atlanta-based airline has also warned of the possibility of a Chapter 11 filing without the concessions.

Delta fears that its pilots could jump ship en masse because they are worried about their pensions amid United Airlines’ threat to terminate its employee retirement plans.

Several hundred Delta pilots have retired early in recent months, and more have threatened such moves, chief executive Gerald Grinstein has said.

The pilots union said there will be a “random selection process” for those in the post-retirement pool, which can be tapped only when staffing falls below a certain level. Eligible pilots must be captain-qualified and current in certain models of aircraft.

Company spokesman John Kennedy said earlier Monday that the company had no comment on the status of negotiations.

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On the Net:

Company: http://www.delta.com

Union: http://www.dalpa.com

AP-ES-09-20-04 1808EDT