KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Delta Airlines' pilots may soon become the highest-paid in the industry, after reaching a tentative contract agreement with company managers yesterday. The move means the nation's third-largest airline may avoid a strike and the 300,000 passengers it serves every day may escape some major headaches. CNN's Patty Davis joins us live from Reagan National Airport in Washington with the challenges ahead for Delta. Less headaches -- that sounds great, Patty.</s>PATTY DAVIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Well, challenge No. 1 as far as Delta is concerned: get the pilots to ratify that agreement -- that tentative agreement. That is scheduled to begin sometime this weekend. Challenge No. 2: get some of the business back that Delta lost. In fact, during that whole strike threat process, Delta was saying that it was hurting a little bit financially from that threat. Now, the tentative deal was struck after five days of intense negotiations, here in Washington with the National Mediation Board involved. It came as a surprise to analysts, even to some at Delta, that this tentative deal was reached yesterday. In fact, one official at Delta had told me just last week there was no way there was going to be a deal reached during those talks at the National Mediation Board. So, surprise, even for Delta employees. Now, according to the Airline Pilots' Association, this is what is in that deal: The pilots will receive 24 to 34 percent pay hikes through 2005. That is the life of the contract. Delta Express pilots get a 63 percent pay hike. That's Delta's low-fare carrier that competes with Southwest. And Delta pilots also getting other retirement, job security and vacation improvements. If the pilots' union does approve this, there will be no strike at the nation's third-largest carrier. And analysts say that is very good news for passengers, but they also say that passengers will likely end up paying for this deal. Analysts say it is very expensive and they expect passengers to end up paying with higher ticket prices. Back to you.</s>PHILLIPS: Patty Davis, all right, thanks a lot.
Delta Pilots Will Likely Avert Strike, Get Large Pay Hikes