1900Driver

Could Delta, Northwest merge?
Report: Analysts speculate that the two carriers could explore merger while in bankruptcy.
September 16, 2005: 10:59 AM EDT
NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - After almost simultaneously filing for bankruptcy this week, industry analysts now speculate that Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines could explore a possible merger, according to a report published Friday.

"I wouldn't be at all surprised. In the past, these two airlines have talked and they have very little route overlap," Benchmark analyst Helane Becker told USA Today.

According to the newspaper, Atlanta-based Delta is concentrated in the East and launches more daily flights across the Atlantic than any other carrier.

Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest is concentrated in the Midwest with a strong route structure in Asia, the newspaper said.

On Wednesday, both companies filed for bankruptcy. Delta, the nation's No. 3 airline, filed first. (For more on Delta's filing, click here.)

Northwest, the No. 4 carrier, followed within minutes. (Full story.)

The report said minimal overlap is considered an advantage with federal regulators since such a merger would involve convincing government regulators that the combination would not significantly reduce competition, or that one or both of the airlines would fail without the merger.

The newspaper said Northwest declined to comment. A Delta spokeswoman told USA Today that the company "expects there will be more consolidation in the industry," adding that for now, Delta is focused on its own restructuring efforts

Kill Bill

as someone who works for one of the two trunk carriers not in BK, all i can say is that i would welcome this merger!

WatchThis!

I think it's going to be CAL and UAL to merge, what do you think of those odds Bill?

mike734

I predict Delta and NW will merge and use the BK courts to merge the seniority lists, dump both retirement programs and write a new (sucky) contract. They will dump all of NW dc-9's order some airbuses and and furlough about one third of all employee groups. Many pilots will be furloughed but massive retirements will mitigate the long term damage to many.

There will be an opportunity for labor to participate in the merger process etc... but, in the end, no agreement will materialize and the courts will do it all. This will be the end of Duane Woerth and may be the end of ALPA as we know it.

The new airline will be a powerhouse.

Of course, I may be WAY off track, but these are my predictions.

PILOTGUY

Mike734,

Not bad. That is not to far off from some of my own thoughts.(nightmares?)

Kill Bill

two relevant stories:

1- a couple of weeks ago, a buddy of mine had kellner on the JS. kellner said it would be stupid to merge since UA had so many senior employees (senior = more money, benefits, etc). he said he would much rather grow from within with lower paid new employees. we are also hording cash and recently filed a 1 billion shelf offering with the SEC to raise even more cash.

2- the story going around the training dept is that within the next couple of months, the CO employees would be very happy and the UA employees very unhappy.

FWIW.

my feeling is that i hope it never happens. however, gordon bethune told me last october as he sat on my jumpseat that he would love to put UA and CO together. his quote was, "we would f*cking crush AA..." perhaps we will buy the good parts of UA and crush AA anyway...