Delta Air maintains promised service, employment levels

A Delta Air Lines executive told Minnesota lawmakers Wednesday the company remains in compliance with promised employment and service levels in Minnesota.

Three years ago, Delta made a commitment to the Metropolitan Airports Commission that the carrier and its regional airline partners would keep at least 10,000 jobs in Minnesota. Delta also vowed it would schedule at least 400 daily departing flights a day at the Twin Cities airport. Bill Lentsch, who oversees Delta's operations in Minnesota, said the airline is greatly exceeding both targets.

"We are still well above the 10,000 number, if we measure that same way —.we're more than 12,000," Lentsch said. "We're really proud of the operation that we built. We're proud of these employees and the level of service that we're giving to this community. We've come a long way and these employees are very excited about it."

Lentsch said Delta is the state's eighth-largest employer, with about 12,100 employees. He said a few hundred more jobs will be added when Pinnacle Airlines moves its headquarters to the Twin Cities.

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