Anyone who watched the numbers realized some of NWA's route structure would not survive the merger. For year NWA's O&D markets had been in decline and the Company experienced declining load factors even though they had been aggressive in shrinking capacity. The combination of networks with Delta did not get a genuine "synergistic" pop since the code share agreements had already harvested much of this low hanging fruit.
Certainly not blaming NWA for what was really the result of demographic shifts by people who travel to the cities.
By acquiring these markets, Delta has little choice but to adjust accordingly.