radarlove
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Patience is deteriorating on airline merger deal
By LIZ FEDOR
(Minneapolis) Star-Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS -- A veil of silence has shrouded the pilot leaders at Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines who are struggling to integrate their seniority lists -- the lone impediment to a merger.
Management and pilots of both airlines have already reached a tentative labor agreement that includes pay raises. But pilot leaders declined to comment Monday on their conflict over seniority.
"The two pilot groups appear unable to reach a decision on seniority but would not want to be blamed for the cancellation of a merger," Julius Maldutis, president of New York-based Aviation Dynamics, said Monday.
He added that Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson, who would lead the merged airline, cannot wait indefinitely for the problem to be resolved, so Maldutis suggested that the pilots could be facing an early March deadline.
Delta (ticker: DAL), the third-largest U.S. carrier, fell 22 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $16.15. Northwest (NWA), the fifth-largest U.S. carrier, lost 41 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $15.86.
When Delta and Northwest merger talks got serious in January, the two airlines chose to involve their pilot groups as partners. That was in step with the philosophy of John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at Northwest and Delta.
"We can make [mergers] work, or we can destroy them," Prater said in December.
But now the pilots groups at Delta and Northwest are in the political hot seat because the airlines' executives want the pilots to reach a seniority deal before they are willing to publicly propose a merger.
Meanwhile, the International Association of Machinists, representing Northwest baggage handlers and ticket agents, and a passenger rights group, the Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights, oppose any deal.
"Employees and passengers are the two groups essential to an airline's success, yet they are the ones that are most hurt in mergers," Robert Roach Jr., the machinist union's general vice president, said in a statement Monday.
By LIZ FEDOR
(Minneapolis) Star-Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS -- A veil of silence has shrouded the pilot leaders at Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines who are struggling to integrate their seniority lists -- the lone impediment to a merger.
Management and pilots of both airlines have already reached a tentative labor agreement that includes pay raises. But pilot leaders declined to comment Monday on their conflict over seniority.
"The two pilot groups appear unable to reach a decision on seniority but would not want to be blamed for the cancellation of a merger," Julius Maldutis, president of New York-based Aviation Dynamics, said Monday.
He added that Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson, who would lead the merged airline, cannot wait indefinitely for the problem to be resolved, so Maldutis suggested that the pilots could be facing an early March deadline.
Delta (ticker: DAL), the third-largest U.S. carrier, fell 22 cents, or 1.3 percent, to $16.15. Northwest (NWA), the fifth-largest U.S. carrier, lost 41 cents, or 2.5 percent, to $15.86.
When Delta and Northwest merger talks got serious in January, the two airlines chose to involve their pilot groups as partners. That was in step with the philosophy of John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at Northwest and Delta.
"We can make [mergers] work, or we can destroy them," Prater said in December.
But now the pilots groups at Delta and Northwest are in the political hot seat because the airlines' executives want the pilots to reach a seniority deal before they are willing to publicly propose a merger.
Meanwhile, the International Association of Machinists, representing Northwest baggage handlers and ticket agents, and a passenger rights group, the Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights, oppose any deal.
"Employees and passengers are the two groups essential to an airline's success, yet they are the ones that are most hurt in mergers," Robert Roach Jr., the machinist union's general vice president, said in a statement Monday.
