More than 4,500 Delta flight attendants request unpaid leave in April: document

(Reuters) – Delta Air Lines has received over 4,500 requests from flight attendants for voluntary unpaid leave in April, according to a March 14 paper seen by Reuters.

People familiar with the matter said the move was prompted by the depressed travel demand caused by the rapid spread of the coronavirus.

The number of take-ups has now topped 5,000 since the window for requests was extended, they said.

Flight attendants can also bid until March 30 for voluntary leave in the month of May, for May and June, or for May, June and July, according to a separate memo seen by Reuters. Delta, with some 25,000 flight attendants, declined to comment.

(Reporting by Tracy Rucinski in Chicago and Akanksha Rana in Bengaluru; Editing by Shri Navaratnam)