Gregory Polek has spent his entire career in aviation journalism with AIN, starting as a proofreader and assistant to then-managing editor Mary Mahoney in 1995 after serving an internship with&nbsp;New Jersey Monthly&nbsp;magazine and completing his B.A. degree in English/Writing at New Jersey’s William Paterson College. By 1997 Polek accepted a position as an associate editor, covering the regional airline beat for&nbsp;Aviation International News&nbsp;in place of retiring industry veteran Don Anderson. The assignment took Polek across North America and Europe to profile regional airlines varying in size and mission from the likes of floatplane operators Kenmore Air and Chalk’s Ocean Airways to regional jet operators such as SkyWest and American Eagle. Today, in his dual role as Air Transport Editor and International Airshow Editor, Polek writes, edits, and manages AIN’s commercial aviation content while overseeing each of the company’s daily international air show publications in Paris, Farnborough, Singapore, and Dubai. Most recently Polek has assumed oversight of daily coverage of the Helicopter Association International’s annual Heli-Expo convention.

Senior Editor

Gregory Polek

Delta Air Lines has abandoned plans to order 40 Boeing 737-900ERs and 20 Embraer 190s following the rejection last week of a tentative three-year contract by the company’s pilots. Delta tied the proposed order—plans for which the airline announced on June 10—to ratification of the contract.&nbsp; &nbsp;

 


“Those orders will be cancelled,” Delta CEO Richard Anderson said during the airline’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday.

 


Plans called for mainline pilots to fly the 20 used, Boeing-held Embraer airplanes starting in the fourth quarter of 2016. The airline planned to use the Boeing jets to replace aging narrowbodies scheduled to retire through 2019. A previous <a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/2011-08-25/delta-places-order-100-boeing-737-900ers">firm order for 100 Boeing 737-900ERs</a> remains in effect.

 


Anderson would not comment on the reasons he thought the pilots rejected the deal by a relatively wide, 65 percent to 35 percent margin. Delta approached the pilots with the offer, which included an immediate 8 percent pay raise and per diem expense increases, some six months ahead of the current contract’s amendable date. However, proposed changes to the airline’s profit-sharing plan proved a point of contention, as did the pay scale proposed for the E190s.

 


In a letter to Delta's pilots, Delta Air Line Pilots Association unit chairman Mike Donatelli said he has called a special meeting for July 21 to reassess negotiating strategy.

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