The reduction in available seats could mean further job cuts at the world's largest airline operator.
Delta executives told employees in a memo Thursday ahead of a presentation at an investor conference in New York that Delta will reduce system capacity by 10 percent this year compared to 2008. That is up from Delta's previous plan to cut system capacity by 6 percent to 8 percent.
Delta also will reduce international capacity 15 percent, up from a previous plan to cut it by 10 percent.
Delta said capacity reductions will begin in September. Some routes will be suspended, while the number of weekly flights to other destinations will be reduced.
``The additional capacity reductions mean we again must reassess staffing needs,'' Chief Executive Richard Anderson and President Ed Bastian said in the memo. ``While the challenges of the current environment preclude us from making guarantees, our goal remains to avoid any involuntary furloughs of frontline employees.''
Delta, which acquired Northwest in October, has already shed thousands of jobs over the last year in connection with previously announced capacity reductions.
The rise in unemployment and hits Americans have taken to the value of their homes, coupled with the meltdown in the financial markets, has caused a significant slowdown in air travel. Airlines also have lost business from the swine flu, which has caused some people to cancel travel plans to Mexico. The overall drop in demand has coincided with a recent increase in fuel prices.
The Delta executives said industry passenger revenues have declined nearly 20 percent in the first four months of the year compared to the same period in 2008. That trend is expected to continue in the near term, they said.
``On top of this, cost pressures from rising jet fuel prices up more than 20 percent since the start of the year coupled with softer travel demand due to the spread of the H1N1 virus, have created a difficult business environment,'' the executives said.
Delta said its fall capacity reductions will target routes that have experienced losses in the current economic climate and with higher fuel prices.
Among the reductions, Delta will:
*suspend nonstop service from Atlanta to Seoul and Shanghai and instead route customers for those flights over Detroit or Tokyo, or on nonstop partner flights.
*suspend nonstop flights from Cincinnati to Frankfurt, Germany, and London-Gatwick.
*reduce weekly frequencies connecting Atlanta and Detroit to Mexico City and postpone some previously planned seasonal service between non-hub cities and Mexican beach destinations due to the impact of the swine flue virus on customers' travel plans.
Delta said it is still adding more than 20 new markets to its international network in 2009.
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