When will the merger happen?
Months from now, at the earliest. First, the feds have to sign off -- and after the merger is approved, the airlines' operations won't be fully melded until 2012. So it could be well over a year before Northwest's planes get new paint jobs.
Who will be in charge?
They're billing this deal as a "merger," but make no mistake: Delta is buying Northwest. The top dogs are all from Delta: CEO Richard Anderson and right-hand man Ed Bastian. Northwest CEO Doug Steenland gets a board seat but no executive role.
Will the Twin Cities lose its hub airport?
The good news: Delta says it's keeping all Delta and Northwest hubs. The bad news: There's no guarantee for how long. MSP could be in danger of losing some international flights to Detroit and its shiny new terminal. But who goes to the chopping block first? You wouldn't want to be Memphis or Cincinnati right now.
Will Northwest employees lose their jobs?
Some of them. No job numbers have been released yet, but Delta plans to save $300 million a year by cutting overhead and improving efficiency. Many of those immediate cuts are expected to come at Northwest's headquarters in Eagan. The airlines say they won't lay off any "front-line employees" -- at airports and on planes -- because of the merger.
