Delta's reorganization plan will give unsecured creditors between 62 percent and 78 percent of the value of their allowed claims as shares of new Delta stock. Delta employees also will get a lump-sum cash payment from the airline based on a percentage of their salary and will receive an equity stake in the reorganized company. Checks to employees are to be issued Tuesday.

More than 95 percent of creditors voted to endorse the plan for Delta to leave bankruptcy, and a federal bankruptcy judge in New York on April 25 gave the airline the green light to exit Chapter 11 today. Conditions included closing on a $2.5 billion loan that will be used to repay another loan that helped fund the airline's operations while in bankruptcy.

The company is hosting a series of celebratory events starting today. Top executives will address employees and brief reporters. They also will spend 10 days visiting select cities, including Salt Lake City, Boston and Washington, to attend employee receptions.

Delta entered Chapter 11 on Sept. 14, 2005, amid high fuel prices and the burdens of high labor and pension expenses. Delta significantly reduced its labor and pension costs while under court protection. As of March 31, the company had 52,260 full-time employees, according to a regulatory filing Friday. The figure includes subsidiary Comair.

The bankruptcy process has been expensive for Delta, which has run up more than $127.9 million in bills for fees and expenses for its lawyers, consultants and advisers through the end of January. It could spend tens of millions more once the final fee and expense requests are dealt with.

As Delta looks to its future outside of bankruptcy and it seeks to return to profitability after billions in losses the last six years, competition will continue to be an issue it will have to deal with.

Abbey said that means there won't been any room for failure on Delta's business plan.

"It's important that operationally speaking, there aren't any disasters," he said.