Bigflya

Article Just out tonight (Friday).

Delta Air Lines (NYSEAL) ' board plans to meet on Wednesday to approve the US carrier's merger with rival Northwest Airlines (NASDAQ:NWAC) , people close to the matter said on Friday.

The two airlines have already shared their proposal with labour leaders and have been working toward securing their support. Late on Friday, those negotiations were still ongoing, the people said. Northwest may also call a board meeting for Wednesday, they said.

The two airlines have agreed to exchange Northwest shares for those of Delta at little or no premium, the people said.
Securing support of pilots and other workers would be a crucial victory for the carriers' executives, who are mindful that any deal would face stiffer opposition in Washington without endorsements from key employee groups.

The Air Line Pilots Association represents pilots at both Delta and Northwest. While each group has said it was open to consolidation, they are pushing for wage increases to unwind concessions they made to their airlines during their bankruptcies. They also want to resolve how their members will rank in the combined company's seniority list, which helps determines how much pilots are paid and what aircraft they fly.

While pilots cannot technically block two airlines from merging, they can help galvanise opposition. Delta was able to fend off a hostile bid from US Airways last year in part because of the pilots' co-operation with management.

Delta has a market value of about $7bn, including shares the company will issue to creditors as part of its agreement to exit bankruptcy. Northwest is worth about $5bn. Both carriers filed for protection from creditors in 2005 and emerged last year.

Delta and Northwest also still need to determine whether Air France-KLM, their mutual European ally, will invest in the combined company, the people said.

Neither company immediately returned calls seeking coment.

Bigflya

My question for DAL guys is what do you think the company will do for you to make this plan sweeter? DAL has better base pay, 401k contribution, B-plan contribution, less hours to min guarantee, quicker upgrade to CA, better reserve rules (according to a NWA guy on this site), variety of A/C for junior pilots to bid, and more/better domiciles to choose from. I do not see what NWA can collectively bring to the table for the DAL pilots to make them buy off on this. I did not even talk about displacements. "Fences" alone would not be enough I would think. I've read equity stake but stock value goes to zero in a bankruptcy, then the co issues new shares to new investors. Old investors get nothing since common stockholders are last in line to get paid and their is never enough $$ to satisfy the bondholders (first in line). That is why they restructure the debt in bankruptcy. Any thoughts?

capncrunch

50% of NWAs pilots are over 52 years old. In a few years, NWA is going to have a complete turn over and that counts huge. 787s are no poke in the eye either. And as far as Northerners are concerned, Delta has the cruddy bases.

2 sides to each coin my man.

capncrunch

I will give you flight attendants. NWAs are the worst.

If you want to know which base an NWA flight attendant is from, you have to give her the Hula Hoop test:

A) If the hula Hoop cannot fit over her hair, she is based in Memphis.

B) If the hula Hoop cannot fit over her mid section, she is based in Minneapolis.

c) If the hula Hoop cannot fit over her ankles, she is based in Seattle.

Jay5150

What about Detroit?

Can't fit over her........AK-47?

acs020

oh my god Jay5150, I actually said that same line out loud then scrolled down to read your post, great minds think alike! I'm a new hire at a nwa regional, I'll let you guys know if the hula hoop test works for the regionals too.