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Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal - by Business Courier of Cincinnati

Delta Air Lines is creating a new business to handle all customer-service duties for its regional carriers as it works to combine its operations with those of Northwest Airlines. The unit will be based in the Twin Cities.
The new subsidiary, called Regional Handling Services (RHS), will take over all airport ticket counter, gate and baggage handling services in about 100 airports, according to a memo to employees. In addition, the company will oversee ground handling services at 170 airport locations. Combined, the move involves 4,100 employees from Comair, Compass and Mesaba airlines.
Don Bornhorst, senior vice president of Delta Connection, said Delta (NYSE: DAL) does not expect any involuntary job cuts for Comair or Mesaba frontline employees, since there is little overlap. But there is expected to be reductions through attrition and voluntary retirement programs. The move also will not affect Delta or Northwest mainline jobs nor the airline's flying operations.
The transition will be compete and in effect by the third quarter, Bornhorst said in the memo.
"When fully operational in the third quarter of 2009, RHS will be an industry leader serving as one of the nation’s largest regional ground handling operators," he wrote. He added that the efficiencies created by the new operation, through competitive bidding and reduced overhead, will contribute to the overall $2 billion in savings expected through the Delta-Northwest merger.
Regional Handing Services will be headquartered in Minneapolis and be headed by Comair veteran Don Stephens, who for four years as Comair’s vice president of system planning and customer service.