With a nod to our guest columnist Godzilla’s rather dire view of the world on Monday, we present — Ta-da! — the JP Morgan Chase Transportation Conference. Live from New York — it’s analysts Jamie Baker and Mark Streeter.

Time to cue up the band.

Well, then again. Maybe not.

Hell of a time for an airline investment conference, eh?

But hey, it is what it is. And this morning Delta Air Lines’ CFO Ed Bastain took advantage of his New York appearance at the conference to announce that Delta now plans to shrink its domestic passenger capacity by 10%, not 5% as originally planned in 2008, the airline plans to cut at least 2,000 jobs, and it also plans to offer severance packages to a total of 30,000 employees.

The moves come as the airline attempts to deal with the recent run-up in the price of fuel.

According to a memo that was circulated to airline employees Tuesday morning, one part of the voluntary severance program is for employees who are already eligible for retirement or for those whose age and years of service add up to at least 60, with 10 or more years of service.

The second part of the voluntary severance offer is an “early-out” offer for frontline employees — such as flight attendants and gate and ticket agents — with 10 or more years of service and for administrative and management employees with one or more years of service.