Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines are nearing the final phase of their merger talks.

Northwest's board of directors intends to meet within the next few days to discuss the potential merger, a person familiar with the talks said Friday.

The Financial Times reported Friday that Delta's board plans to meet Wednesday about the merger.

The two airlines want to secure a combined labor agreement with the Air Line Pilots Association before unveiling a merger deal. Leaders of the Northwest and Delta pilots unions were still in contract talks with management Friday. The pilot groups also are dealing with the thorny topic of integrating their seniority lists, which will ultimately determine pilots' plane assignments and pay.

Meanwhile, Gov. Tim Pawlenty made a last-ditch effort Friday to persuade the two carriers to save Northwest's Eagan headquarters.

In a letter sent to the chief executives of both airlines, Pawlenty reminded them that Northwest received about $445 million in loans and lease concessions from the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) in exchange for signing agreements that require Northwest to maintain a hub and headquarters in Minnesota.

"We trust and expect that these commitments will be honored," Pawlenty wrote. The governor added, though, that he is ready to give new aid if the airlines will honor that prior pledge.

"We are willing to make additional commitments to keep the hub at full operation and the headquarters in Minnesota," Pawlenty wrote.

Delta CEO Richard Anderson, who would lead the combined carrier, has pledged to keep Atlanta as the headquarters. If the Justice Department allows a merger to unfold and Northwest's headquarters closes, the MAC members, most of whom are appointed by Pawlenty, will decide whether Northwest must immediately pay off $245 million in bond debt.

"If they do not voluntarily make the payment, we can take them to court to enforce the agreement," said Patrick Hogan, a MAC spokesman.

The hub and headquarters requirements are also included in MAC agreements that define Northwest's rent on a maintenance facility and distribution of airport concessions money. If Northwest abandons its headquarters, Hogan said, the MAC could discontinue paying Northwest its share of concessions revenue and increase its lease rate.

Industry insiders have argued that the profitable Twin Cities hub has never faced a threat of closure by the combined carrier. And people familiar with Delta's thinking on the merger have said that they are not planning job cuts for Northwest's rank-and-file workers. Instead, executive positions would be trimmed in a merger.

That leaves the headquarters as the only issue Pawlenty has raised in which the merger looks like it could produce an outcome he doesn't want to see.

In responding to Pawlenty's letter, Northwest was silent Friday on the headquarters issue.

"Northwest is well aware of the importance to Minnesota of the Minneapolis-St. Paul hub and the jobs in Minnesota produced by our airline operations," Ben Hirst, Northwest's senior vice president of corporate affairs and administration, said in a statement.

"Our objective, in the volatile and uncertain economic environment in which airlines operate, has been, and continues to be, to ensure the long-term survival of the Minneapolis-St. Paul hub and the Minnesota jobs we support."

About 12,000 people work for Northwest in Minnesota, including 1,050 at the headquarters.

A Jan. 17 letter from Pawlenty to Anderson and Northwest CEO Doug Steenland offering state help to preserve a hub and headquarters in Minnesota has not yet yielded results.

"The airlines have not made any specific requests related to that offer," Pawlenty spokesman Brian McClung said Friday.

Pawlenty has not had conversations with Steenland or Anderson for the past two weeks, but their staff members have been talking, McClung said.

Also Friday, state Senate President James Metzen, DFL-South St. Paul, said that he would hold a hearing -- and possibly subpoena top Northwest executives -- to get answers to his questions about how a merger would affect Minnesota's economy.

Staff Writer Mike Kaszuba contributed to this report. Liz Fedor • 612-673-7709