Delta-MAC deal hits rough air

A deal between Delta Air Lines and the Metropolitan Airports Commission encountered turbulence Tuesday, and it's unclear whether it will ultimately have a hard or soft landing.

Some MAC members insisted they want to amend a tentative agreement with Delta that would lift penalties for closing Northwest Airlines' headquarters in exchange for preserving jobs and air service in Minnesota.

Key Delta executives and MAC staff reached agreement Dec. 15 on a complicated pact that spells out when Delta will pay off about $245 million in bond debt as well as what business and employment commitments Delta will make.

But several members of the 15-member commission flexed their muscles Tuesday because they favor making some substantive changes to the deal.

MAC commissioner Bert McKasy, a lawyer and former state legislator, said he wants to increase the number of years that Delta agrees to keep certain business activities in Minnesota, including the headquarters for Delta's regional carrier operations.

The proposed deal says Delta will maintain eight business activities in the state for at least three years, which includes reservation centers in Chisholm and the Twin Cities and offices for Compass and Mesaba airlines.

McKasy wants to lock in those Delta commitments for somewhere between three and seven years.

No decision yet

Andy Westerberg is another commissioner seeking changes. During a meeting that ran more than three hours, he said that he'd like to add a provision that states Delta pilots would be trained in Eagan on simulators for Boeing 787s, which Northwest has on order.

Delta General Counsel Ben Hirst told the commission that Delta had carefully negotiated a balanced deal and that both sides had made tradeoffs. "We need an answer now as to whether we have an agreement," he said, after emphasizing that Delta had agreed to boost the required daily flights in the Twin Cities to 400.

He added that Northwest's headquarters will remain open at least a year and a half.

But commissioners later voted to direct Jeff Hamiel, MAC executive director, and Tom Anderson, MAC general counsel, to present a revised agreement for them to review at a Jan. 26 MAC meeting.

Hirst said that he had told MAC negotiators that a deal needed to be in place by the end of 2008 because employees with Delta, Northwest and Compass need to know where they are working.

If McKasy presses to expand Delta's time commitment for keeping certain business activities in Minnesota, then Delta is expected to respond in kind. "Any substantive issue that the MAC wants to reopen means that all other substantive issues would be reopened as well," Hirst said.