Strategies Delta is getting a lot of its employees to take leave of absense without pay during these times. Seems to be older employees who have been with Delta for a long time. These tend to be the higher hourly paid employees so that should help somewhat with expense control during these times.
There are some people still out there flying on flights tat have not been canceled. When things are safer I would expect domestic travel to start back but safety will be a top priority. International travel is going to take longer to come back. Flights to Europe will be limited to certain areas. Forget Spain, Italy and France for sometime as nobody will go there and they will not want foreign travelers. Forget China. Travel to Japan and South Korea will be better markets.
A vaccine for the Coronavirus is definitely important and would ease concerns with flight travel. Travel techniques and behavior will change. Screening for ill people before they board is something they need to figure out if possible especially people entering US from certain countries known to have substandard medical care such as immunization. Customs, airline employees and other passengers cannot be subject to such infectious diseases that create these crisis events. So safety needs to be the top priority to win back travelers. It will be interesting to see if companies like Delta are able to utlize forms of technology to make their business much safer for their customers, employees and society. Those airlines that can will recover better by winning the trust of their customers. Hoping for the best.