Originally Posted by PRWeezer

Agree it's garbled, but to me, after they were asked to hold it sounded like he came back with "company says they need you airborne..." and in this context company = Delta. So the airline needed to expedite your flight for whatever reason. It happens. For context I sometimes tune in to listen to LiveATC and 'company' is used when referring to the pilot's own airline, thus it would make sense here and given the later mention of special circumstances. Could be wrong.