DAL and NWA Agree to Merger

Delta and Northwest have agreed to a merger. The new airline will be called Delta. Delta CEO Richard Andersen will be CEO of the combined airline.   Much more will follow here when known.

The combination of Delta and Northwest will have major impact on the air cargo markets as well as the international passenger markets to Asia and Europe.

Delta has never been a major cargo airline other than the booking of belly space on passenger aircraft.   NWA Cargo however, has been a major player in the air cargo market for years.  How this plays out over time will impact both the cargo and pax markets.  

Northwest pilots, baggage handlers, ramp workers, mechanics, flight attendants and ticket agents are all unionized. None of these are unionized at Delta beyond the pilots.  Delta pilots union head Lee Moak has indicated he hopes cooler heads will prevail. That sounds like a guy whose company just took over. In any case, the US Federal government will have to clear anti-trust approval.

"A Delta/NWA merger would create the world's largest airline with combined annual revenue of over 31 billion dollars."

Click here to check out the internal memorandum that went to Delta employees on the merger.  This memo first appeared in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Additional information can be found at www.newglobalairline.com.

clipped from news.yahoo.com Delta and Northwest agree to combine By HARRY R. WEBER, AP Business Writer ATLANTA - Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp., squeezed by record high fuel prices and a slowing economy, are combining in a stock-swap deal that would create the world's biggest carrier. The boards of both companies gave the deal the go-ahead Monday. Delta said the combined airline, which will be called Delta, will have an enterprise value of $17.7 billion. It will be based in Atlanta, and Delta CEO Richard Anderson will head the combined company. Under the terms of the transaction, Northwest shareholders will receive 1.25 Delta shares for each Northwest share they own. The exchange ratio represents a premium to Northwest shareholders of 16.8 percent based on Monday's closing stock prices. Delta Chairman Daniel Carp will become chairman of the new board of directors and Northwest Chairman Roy Bostock will become vice chairman. Delta President and Chief Financial Officer Ed Bastian will retain his titles. The new board will be made up of 13 members, seven of whom will come from Delta's board, including Anderson, and five of whom will come from Northwest's board, including Bostock and Doug Steenland, the current Northwest CEO. One director will come from the Air Line Pilots Association, the union that represents pilots from both carriers. There will be an unspecified number of job cuts or transfers through the consolidation of overlapping corporate and administrative functions, Delta said. The two airlines employ more than 80,000 people combined. The company expects no involuntary furloughs of front-line employees and said the existing pension plans for both companies' employees will be protected.

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