Now Says Pilots Don't Have To Agree On Terms
According to reports coming out of
Atlanta and Minneapolis, officials at Northwest Airlines --
motivated to see an oft-reported joining with Delta Air Lines come
to fruition, as fuel prices continue to climb -- now say pilots at
both carriers don't necessarily need to come to terms on seniority
agreements ahead of such a merger.
That's quite a reversal from earlier positions held by both
carriers... that pilots would need to come to at least preliminary
terms ahead of a merger, in order to avoid labor entanglements down
the road.
As ANN has reported, merger
talks broke down after executives with both the Delta and Northwest
chapters of the Air Line Pilots Association failed to agree on such
terms... but Northwest appears willing to deal with those (likely
inevitable) problems later, in the interest of seeing a
Delta/Northwest merger happen now.
An anonymous source told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on
Monday that Delta will consider Northwest's latest overture... but
may not respond for as long as a week. Officially, Delta will not
comment on whether such an overture was even made.
"We can't confirm any details of our board's process," said
Delta spokesman Kent Landers. "We support industry consolidation as
a vehicle to ensure Delta remains an industry leader."
There are signs, however, that Delta management is at least
looking at such an offer closely. On Friday, Delta CEO Richard
Anderson and CFO Ed Bastian cancelled weekend press junkets
celebrating Delta's first flight to London's Heathrow airport and
Shanghai, China, respectively.
While rumors of progress towards a Delta/Northwest deal will
brighten the moods of investors in the carriers, the report was met
with disapproval from the leader of Northwest's pilots union.
"In order for any airline merger to be successful, the pilots of
both groups must be involved and agree to the terms," said
Northwest ALPA Chairman Dave Stevens said in a statement. "We will
reserve our judgement and support until the economic and
contractual elements of an agreement have been negotiated."
Stevens added any merger also must be in the interests of
customers and employees, "not just the shareholders."
There's nothing legally stopping Delta and Northwest from
proceeding with merger plans without agreements between pilots on
how to integrate seniority lists... but history shows such a move
would be ill-advised, at best. Pilots at the former America West
and US Airways are still grappling with just such issues, nearly
three years after those two carriers merged.
Airline consultant Mike Boyd noted failure to come to terms
early on how to integrate pilot ranks at both Delta and Northwest
would have consequences down the line. "You could end up with
Hatfields and McCoys in the cockpit," Boyd said. "The question is:
Just how much warfare will there be?"
A senior Delta pilot also weighed in, telling the AJC a shotgun
merger between Delta and Northwest would almost certainly spell
trouble down the line. "You get people in the cockpit trying to
work together, and you find out they have filed a lawsuit against
your parent company," the unnamed pilot said. "It's not the best of
situations."
That same pilot also echoed his company's line -- that Delta is
ready to proceed as a stand-alone carrier, even if Northwest
isn't.
"If they can work it out, fine. If they can't, fine," he
said.