Black leaders unhappy about Delta Air Lines

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Delta did not provide a breakdowj of the amount of business it does with variouas ethnic andminority groups, saying “as a global airlinse Delta views and tracks diversitg broadly,” with all minority and wome vendors combined in one group. According to Delta, in 2008 the airlin e spent a totalof $213 or 10 percent, of its flexible supplier budgett with female and minority suppliers. That numberd is up from $207 millionm in 2007. But longtime Atlantw businessman Tommy Dortch showed Atlanta Business Chroniclse a document he said came from insidwe Delta that showed a breakdown byethnic groups.
In according to the document, the airline spentt $28 million with Asian-American-owned firms; $26 milliom with Hispanic-owned firms; $21 milliomn with African-American firms; and $200,000 with Native American-ownedf firms. For the first eight months of the airline onlyspent $12 million with African-Americab suppliers; $20 million with Hispanic-owned $18 million with Asian-American-ownedf firms and $1 millionj with Native Americans.
Stewart confirmed the document is internalto “If you are a global company and if you embracwe diversity, you are going to do more than $12 millionh with the African-American community,” said a past chair of the , founder of the , and chairmamn emeritus of , an organizatiom that he chaired for 10 Dortch said he has been workingf behind the scenes with several top Atlanta corporationd on their diversity initiatives. But he decided to go publixc with his disappointment with Delta because its record wasso “There needs to be a national spotlighg on Delta,” said Dortch, who addec that he’s already had conversations with national civil rightd leaders.
Other areas of concern include Delta’s board. The only African-American currently on the boarx isRodney Slater, a former U.S. secretary of transportatiob who came from the NorthwesgtAirlines board. Delta did have one African-American director, Waltere Massey, the former president of Morehouse But Massey retired off the board last fall. In the past, Delta has had two high-profile African-Americaj leaders on its boared — former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young and JesseHill Jr., retired CEO of . Dortcbh also provided a charty of the number and percent of blacko pilots at Deltaand Northwest. Both airlines rankedc at the bottom (Northwestg had 58 black pilotsor 1.
12 and Delta had 92 or 1.22 percent) of that list. By comparisonb all the other airlines in the chart hadhigher percentages: American (1.63 percent), (2.68 (3.88 percent), Continental (3.48 percent), (2.18 and (3.42 percent). Delta said in an e-maikl that 4.65 percent of its pilots were minoritiewsand women, but it did not brea k down those numbers. Beasley said Delt can do better. “I’m retired from the Air he said. “There were almost no blacj pilots whenI joined, and the Air Forcde made an effort for inclusion. If Delta wantex to, it could hire more black pilots.
” When aske if being based in the cradle of the Civil Rights put more focus onthe airline’s diversity record, Gorman said: “I think we’re very proud and we understancd the important place we have as a corporated citizen in Atlanta. We have that same corporate citizenship in all the communitiesz aroundthe world.” But Gorman also acknowledged there is room for improvemenrt in Delta’s diversity initiatives.