Delta To Cut Flying 70%, Park Half Of Planes As Travel Continues To Plummet

In a marker of how much worse demand for air travel has become this week, Delta Air Lines announced deep cuts to its service Wednesday on top of dramatic reductions revealed just five days ago.

The world’s largest airline by revenue will reduce its seat capacity by 70% until demand recovers and park at least half of its fleet. International flights will be cut 80%. Delta will also take further steps to reduce costs, aiming for $4 billion in savings in the second quarter.

The airline expects revenue for the month of March to decline by almost $2 billion over last year, with April even worse.

“Cash preservation remains our top financial priority right now,” CEO Ed Bastian said in a memo to employees Wednesday. “Making swift decisions now to reduce the losses and preserve cash will provide us the resources to rebound from the other side of this crisis and protect Delta’s future.”

Roughly 10,000 Delta employees have volunteered to take unpaid leave and Bastian encouraged more to join them.