Pilots at ATA Airlines have ratified a three year deal worth USD$84.5 million in savings to the bankrupt carrier by the end of 2007, ATA said on Wednesday.

The 800 pilots and flight engineers at ATA agreed to the package that features wage, benefit and work rule concessions. The employees are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association.

The collective bargaining agreement (CBA) becomes effective from October 1 and will be amendable on September 30, 2008.

"With the CBA finalized and negotiations behind us, we can now focus on the final stages of restructuring that will lead to our emergence as a financially stable and growing airline," said ATA Chief Executive John Denison in a statement.

ATA had asked a bankruptcy court for permission to void the pilots' existing contract and allow the carrier to replace it with ATA's own contract terms.

On September 12, ALPA members authorized union leadership to call a strike against the struggling airline.

Short-term wage concessions were already in effect until September 30, 2005, -- under an agreement between ATA and ALPA signed in June 2005.

In exchange for the new concessions, the pilots will receive stock options in the company when it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection later this year or early in 2006.

ATA, which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since last October, is seeking an additional USD$100 million capital infusion in order to complete its restructuring.

Indianapolis-based ATA has its main hub in Chicago and flies to a number of cities within the United States as well as leisure destinations such as Aruba, Cozumel, Mexico, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.