The Financial Times reported over the weekend that Delta has agreed to go back into merger talks with Northwest, even without a deal between the airlines’ pilots.

Then, today, the Associated Press followed up with a report that Delta is “trying to determine whether to push ahead” with a deal.

One intriguing point at the end of AP’s story:

Another option that remains on the table is a “light” deal between Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. in which they would combine some corporate functions but keep separate pilot ranks and operations, the people familiar with the talks said.

The “light” option, in theory, would be along the lines of Air France-KLM: two separate airlines run by the same corporation. In this case, with each airline cutting capacity to cut costs as fuel costs soar, that option seems unlikely. They want all the savings they can get, and the idea of operating two separate airlines might be no more than a last-ditch option. But one thing on the plus side: It would avoid a years-long seniority dispute between the two airlines’ pilots.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 7th, 2008 at 3:37 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.