Delta Cancels Nearly 300 Flights

Monday, December 4th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ATLANTA (AP) â€” Delta Air Lines confirmed it was forced to cancel almost 300 flights this weekend because pilots refused to work overtime as contract talks continued between their union and the carrier.

The Atlanta-based airline, the third largest in the U.S., has been in negotiations with the pilots since September 1999.

Dave Bushy, Delta's senior vice president of flight operations, in a recorded message Saturday on the Delta pilots' hot line, said the airline was experiencing ``significant disruptions to our schedule.''

He said Delta canceled 67 flights Friday, 148 on Saturday and expected 80 on Sunday due to crew shortages. Bushy said Delta normally operates 2,700 flights a day and on a normal day fewer than two flights are canceled due to crew shortages.

``What we've had happen this weekend is hundreds of flights and thousands of customers affected,'' Delta spokeswoman Jackie Pate said Sunday.

Pate said there were additional cancellations on Sunday due to snow in the Southeast, but did not have any numbers.

Many of Delta's 9,400 pilots have been declining to sign up for voluntary overtime assignments since Delta and the Air Line Pilots Association began talks on a new contract last month.

ALPA officials have told pilots that the union does not support the no-overtime campaign, but said under their contract the pilots can decide individually whether to fly extra hours. Union officials did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment Sunday.

United Airlines and Northwest Airlines also have recently complained of job actions by workers involved in contract negotiations forcing flight delays or cancellations. Unions for both airlines have denied the allegations.

On Monday, a judge in Minneapolis was expected to continue a hearing into Northwest's allegations that a slowdown by mechanics was escalating as the nation's fourth-largest airline enters the Christmas travel season.

Last week, United, the country's largest carrier, canceled more than 100 flights for two days in a row. Airline officials say United mechanics are defying a Nov. 17 federal court order forbidding an organized work slowdown.

Most airlines rely on pilots to fly overtime hours to staff some regularly scheduled flights. If Delta's pilots continue to refuse to work overtime, it could cause problems during the upcoming Christmas holiday period, Pate said.

``We have said we would consider what our options are, including legal options,'' she said.