Certain reports earlier this week made it sound as if Northwest and Delta pilots were already on board with a merger, but reality has turned out to be a little more complicated.

Today, the Star Tribune’s Liz Fedor reports that the pilot talks are at “a virtual standstill” — even though Northwest pilots stand to get 30 percent pay raises over the four-year life of the contract with the merged carrier.

Seniority issues — specifically, how to blend the two airlines’ pilot seniority lists — are the reason the talks have become snarled. The Associated Press quoted unnamed sources saying that the merger is in “serious jeopardy.”

The airlines’ boards are scheduled to meet tonight, but it’s looking highly unlikely that they’ll vote on a deal. A more likely scenario might be a Sunday night vote ahead of a Monday morning announcement — if there’s going to be a deal at all.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 1:45 pm and is filed under NWA-Delta merger. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.