nwa040708
On the homepage
Vikings
Out There
Artcetera
Table Talk
NWA, Delta will discuss merger again, report says
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have revived talks about merging, the Financial Times reported on its website Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Print this story
E-mail this story
Save to del.icio.us
Share on Facebook
Share on Digg
Minnesota business by the numbers
See Minnesota's top earning companies, CEOs and non-profits
Related Content
More from Business
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have revived talks about merging, the Financial Times reported on its website Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Delta and Northwest were close to announcing a merger agreement in February. The carriers gave their pilot unions time to negotiate common ground on how to rank union members by seniority, which determines pilot pay and aircraft flown.
But in a March 17 letter, the Delta pilots union chairman said that the two sides could not reach agreement on a seniority integration list.
Subsequently, Northwest management has indicated a willingness to propose a merger without first securing a pilots' seniority list.
Delta's board members agreed in a meeting late last week to go ahead with merger negotiations, news sources told the Financial Times. Those talks are now intensifying, the news organization reported.
If a merger deal proceeds, Delta is expected to acquire Northwest; the headquarters of the merged carrier would be located in Atlanta, where Delta is now based. Delta CEO Richard Anderson, who was the top executive at Northwest from 2001 to 2004, would lead the merged airline.
If a merger is proposed, it could not be implemented unless it was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has repeatedly said that he opposes a Delta-Northwest merger, because he contends it would prompt other big carriers to merge as well.
Oberstar has said that he intends to hold hearings if any large merger deals are proposed.
Recent Business stories
Real estate trade group: Ohio home sales, prices rise in October as tax credit fuels market - April 6, 2008
Real estate trade group: Ohio home sales, prices rise in October as tax credit fuels market - Home sales have risen in Ohio and across the country thanks to first-time buyers rushing to take advantage of an expiring tax credit. More
Blog: Patent Pending
Lights out at U energy conference. Irony police notified.
Just as Lawrence Kazmerski, a top official at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, was about to give the keynote address at the University of Minnesota's annual E3 conference at the RiverCentre in St. Paul, the lights went out, bathing the audience in darkness and a deep sense of irony.
Comment on this story | Read all 10 comments | Hide reader comments