Delta responds to court decision on Ex-Im financing

Appeals court agrees with Delta that Ex-Im Bank failed to consider effect of financing on U.S. airline jobs

News provided by

Jun 18, 2013, 11:52 ET

ATLANTA, June 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today issued the following statement:

"Today the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a challenge by Delta Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Association to the Export-Import Bank's issuance of loan guarantees for the sale of 30 long-range, widebody aircraft to Air India. Delta and ALPA had argued that the subsidies would have harmful effects on U.S. airlines and their employees. The federal appeals court held that, before issuing its loan guarantees to Air India, the Bank was required by its governing statute to consider the effects that the loan guarantees would have on U.S. industries and U.S. jobs.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20090202/DELTALOGO)

"According to the court, the Bank failed to explain its exclusion of aircraft transactions from economic impact review. The court also rejected the Bank's attempt to suggest that it was immune from judicial review. The Bank now will be required to take the complaints of industry participants seriously before proceeding with potentially harmful subsidies to foreign airlines."

Delta, along with the Air Line Pilots Association, has raised concerns over the past several years about the impact of the Bank's lending on U.S. airlines and their employees. Export-Import financing for widebody international aircraft puts thousands of U.S. airline jobs at risk by subsidizing foreign carriers that compete directly with Delta and other U.S. airlines on key international routes.

Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year. Delta was named by Fortune magazine as the most admired airline worldwide in its 2013 World's Most Admired Companies airline industry list, topping the list for the second time in three years. With an industry-leading global network, Delta and the Delta Connection carriers offer service to 328 destinations in 64 countries on six continents. Headquartered in Atlanta, Delta employs nearly 80,000 employees worldwide and operates a mainline fleet of more than 700 aircraft. The airline is a founding member of the SkyTeam global alliance and participates in the industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture with Air France-KLM and Alitalia. Including its worldwide alliance partners, Delta offers customers more than 15,000 daily flights, with hubs in Amsterdam, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Detroit, Memphis, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York-LaGuardia, New York-JFK, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Salt Lake City and Tokyo-Narita. Delta is investing more than $3 billion in airport facilities and global products, services and technology to enhance the customer experience in the air and on the ground. Additional information is available on delta.com, Twitter @Delta, Google.com/+Delta and Facebook.com/delta.