Delta to Outsource Maintenance Work By Jui Chakravorty NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) , which is struggling to meet its cash needs, on Tuesday said it expects to cut costs by about $240 million over five years, mainly by outsourcing aircraft maintenance work. Atlanta-based Delta plans to partner with Avborne of Miami, and Air Canada Technical Services of Vancouver, Canada, to conduct heavy maintenance work on parts of its aircraft fleet, cutting costs by 34 percent. Delta also plans to reduce operations at its Tampa, Florida hangar, shifting some work to Atlanta. It also plans to concentrate other work in Atlanta. Tony Charaf, senior vice president of technical operations, outlined the planned savings in a memo to staff, which was filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The division is slated to lose 1,600 to 2,000 jobs out of a total 6,000 to 7,000 job cuts. Both sets of numbers were previously announced, Delta said. In addition, the carrier on Monday filed with federal regulators to sell up to $500 million in common and preferred stock, debt securities, warrants and other securities, and said it would use the proceeds for general corporate purposes. Delta, the No. 3 U.S. carrier in terms of passenger traffic, expects to face liquidity issues over the next two years as higher oil prices add up to $1 billion to its costs, Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein said last week. The carrier avoided a Chapter 11 filing late last year when it managed to shore up $1 billion in annual wage and benefit concessions for five years, and $1.1 billion in financing from its creditors GE Commercial Aviation Services (GE.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) and American Express (AXP.N: Quote , Profile , Research ) . Last week, Grinstein said the carrier expects to face liquidity issues over two years as higher oil prices add up to $1 billion to its costs. Still, it should still be able to avoid a bankruptcy filing, he noted. But Prudential Equity Group airlines analyst Bob McAdoo on Monday said in a note Grinstein's comments increased his concern that Delta will "push near, if not into, Chapter 11 this fall." Two of the 10 leading U,S. airlines, UAL Corp.'s (UALAQ.OB: Quote , Profile , Research ) United Airlines and US Airways Group Inc. (UAIRQ.OB: Quote , Profile , Research ) are now operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, giving them what some rivals say is an unfair advantage in being able to cut fares and lower costs such as pensions. Delta, which has slightly more than $1 billion cash on hand, must make $450 million in payments on its pension plans this year and $630 million in debt repayments coming due near the end of the year. The company last year posted a record net loss of $5.2 billion. Delta shares closed at $3.98 Monday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Christian Plumb) Quelle "Delta to Outsource Maintenance Work" : reuters.com Main page for "Delta to Outsource Maintenance Work"