Delta Air Lines said on Monday that it is notifying the federal pension insurer, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, that it intends to end its pilots' pension plan, a spokesman said.

The request, effective September 2, to terminate the defined benefit plan -- which provides employees with a monthly payout based on their salary -- was sent by overnight courier to the PBGC, spokesman Anthony Black said.

The airline will also need the approval of the US Bankruptcy Court before it can terminate the plan, which if allowed to continue could cost it more than USD$1 billion near term.

Delta, which filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors in September last year, is trying to raise USD$3 billion a year in cost cuts and revenue increases.

It reached an agreement with its pilots in April for a new contract, which saves it about USD$280 million a year and includes a provision for certain payments to pilots if the pension plan is terminated.

The airline had said that it would end the pilots' pension plan even if Congress approves legislation that includes special help for struggling airlines.

"Unless the pilot plan is terminated Delta cannot successfully restructure," Chief Executive Gerald Grinstein wrote in a letter to members of Congress on Friday.

Delta also manages a non union plan, which Grinstein said the airline will try to save.