Done Deal: DOJ Approves Delta, Northwest Merger!

[Eagle757shark]

US DOJ approves merger of Delta, Northwest Airlines

Wed Oct 29, 2008 3:06pm EDT
WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust authorities approved Delta Air Lines Inc's (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) purchase of Northwest Airlines Corp (NWA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Wednesday in a deal worth about $2.6 billion.
The merger would create the world's biggest airline by passenger traffic.
The U.S. Justice Department approval ends the U.S. regulatory review.
The department said the deal, in its view, is likely to benefit consumers and and unlikely to "substantially lessen competition."

 

[rf285]

Congrats to us. Hopefully a good thing, nothing I can do about it. Now that we have approval, I hope we don't start seeing negative press releases.

 

[~~~^~~~]

Hope ALPA saved all the good pre-merger quotes.

 

[JohnDoe]

Those at NW that want to retire with NW retiree medical benefits (premiums) prior to DCC had better hurry........

 

[180ToTheMarker]

Hope ALPA saved all the good pre-merger quotes.

Ain't that the truth. Seems things have been quite rosy pre-merger. Hopefully it won't change.

 

[Raskal]

Those at NW that want to retire with NW retiree medical benefits (premiums) prior to DCC had better hurry........

Wow, talk about "should I stay or should I go?..." Good luck to those folks with that decision.

 

[~~~^~~~]

I feel very "Super Premium" already !

 

[contrail67]

Hope it works out for all of you.

 

[Eagle757shark]

You must hand it to Delta management. They did a remarkable job getting this thing done in this current environment. From all I've heard from people who work at Delta, the transition will be very rapid. I guess they will show US Airways' Parker how to put together a real merger. After three years US Airways is still fighting with its pilots. I have a feeling Delta will be done and US Airways will still be trying to intergrate their unions. I imagine airline consolidation may well be on its way now. The next few months will be interesting to see who is next.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Said something was up.
Figured they got approval this morning when the pop-up came for the new name tags.

 

[patrickdc9]

Looks like still one minor hurdle to clear before it's considered closed. Passenger lawsuit in SFO:

Justice Department approves Delta-Northwest combo



By The Associated Press | 29 Oct 2008 | 03:53 PM ET function UpdateTimeStamp(pdt) { var n = document.getElementById("udtD"); if(pdt != '' && n && window.DateTime) { var dt = new DateTime(); pdt = dt.T2D(pdt); if(dt.GetTZ(pdt)) {n.innerHTML = dt.D2S(pdt,((''.toLowerCase()=='false')?false:true));} } } UpdateTimeStamp('633609067830000000');

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setDefault('cnbc_textbody');MINNEAPOLIS - Delta and Northwest airlines won antitrust approval on Wednesday, with the Justice Department saying the creation of what will be the world's largest airline will help consumers without hurting competition.
The approval means the only thing standing between the two airlines and the deal closing is a trial in San Francisco next week in a lawsuit brought by 28 travelers. Northwest CEO Doug Steenland has said he does not believe the lawsuit will stop the deal, which the carriers have said they hope to close by the end of this year.
Federal regulators wrote in a statement that "the proposed merger between Delta and Northwest is likely to produce substantial and credible efficiencies that will benefit U.S. consumers and is not likely to substantially lessen competition."
It noted that they already compete with other carriers on most of the routes where they currently compete with each other. The Justice Department also said consumers should benefit from savings on expenses for airport operations, technology, and suppliers. The companies have said they can cut $2 billion a year in expenses once they combine.
When Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. announced their deal in April, it was widely thought that they were looking to get approval before a new President took office.
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, said approval of the merger will mean higher fares and fewer connections between mid-size cities and business centers. He said he was concerned about an enlarged Delta and other possible airline combinations and joint ventures.
"A first priority of the new administration should be to reconsider the rationale behind antitrust-immunized alliances and the market power they can exercise to the detriment of consumers," he said.
Mitchell testified before Congress in April in opposition to airline mergers.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

I am not to sure this will stop it.

 

[fishguy79]

Looks like still one minor hurdle to clear before it's considered closed. Passenger lawsuit in SFO:

The WSJ article said this was settled out of court.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

that is what I am seeing. This will be done in the next 48-72hrs.
My bet is the paperwork was started this AM about 900....

 

[Mea25000]

First of the year could be a wild ride...
SWA grabs AAI
CAL grabs UAUA
And I guess that leaves AMR with ALK
someone is about to get screwed

 

[ACL65PILOT]

I think that AMR is waiting for the economy to really go in to the tank. That way they can make their argument for foreign ownership and win. Government will be broke and have no choice but to let AMR be bought by BA.

 

[JoeMerchant]

I think that AMR is waiting for the economy to really go in to the tank. That way they can make their argument for foreign ownership and win. Government will be broke and have no choice but to let AMR be bought by BA.

That can't be.....Rez says that Obama will stop cabotage....Have faith in the Obama Messiah....he will save us all....

 

[~~~^~~~]

First of the year could be a wild ride...
SWA grabs AAI
CAL grabs UAUA
And I guess that leaves AMR with ALK
someone is about to get screwed

Lower oil prices take a lot of the pressure off. At the same time, no one is too keen on increasing capacity in this market.

ALK is a de-facto Delta Connection carrier feeding KSEA's expansion. If they tied the knot with AA (which doesn't make a lot of sense) then Delta would be the one getting screwed.

UAUA and AAI both have good pilot groups and I wish them the best.

 

[ACL65PILOT]

I think that the announced the first wave of right sizing over at ASA today, didn't they?

 

[ACL65PILOT]

Yeah, I see more coming from the DAL-ALK deal in the next year or so.