Atlanta ? Delta Air Lines’ chief executive said Tuesday he was declining his six-figure salary for the rest of the year as he announced a 10 percent pay cut for executives, ticket and gate agents and other staff.

CEO Gerald Grinstein also said in a memo to employees that the nation’s third-largest airline would cut retirement benefits and increase employee contributions to health insurance as part of its plan to avoid bankruptcy.

“We have a small window of opportunity available to us to avoid Chapter 11,” Grinstein wrote. “It is in everyone’s best interest that we protect Delta’s future by taking these steps together now.”

Atlanta-based Delta would not immediately say how much salary Grinstein is relinquishing. His predecessor, Leo Mullin, earned about $500,000 a year.

Also Tuesday, Delta’s pilots said they ratified an agreement allowing the airline to employ newly retired pilots to prevent staffing shortages. Delta has warned it would have to file for bankruptcy if the pace of early pilot retirements did not slow.

The airline has lost more than $5 billion since 2001 and has racked up $20 billion in debt as it has faced higher fuel prices and increased competition from low-fare carriers.

Delta Air lines chief executive Gerald Grinstein speaks during a meeting in Atlanta in this Sept. 8 file photo. He announced Tuesday that the company was cutting the pay of executives and other employees by 10 percent.