New York – A federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday approved a Delta Air Lines plan to exit bankruptcy after the nation’s third-largest airline spent nearly 20 months in a wrenching reorganization that cut 6,000 jobs and slashed $3 billion in costs.
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines Inc. expects to emerge from court protection Monday. It estimates it will be worth $9.4 billion to $12 billion, after Delta reduced labor costs, restructured its fleet and terminated a pilots pension plan.
More than 95 percent of creditors voted to endorse the plan for Delta to leave bankruptcy as a stand-alone carrier. That plan had been jeopardized by a $9.8 billion hostile takeover bid launched last fall by US Airways Group Inc.
Delta successfully persuaded creditors to back its blueprint and reject the buyout offer.
