Originally Posted by Todd Michaels

Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. have spent the last week readying their long-delayed merger announcement, with the aim of unveiling it as early as Tuesday, said people familiar with the matter.

They could go ahead without the support of Delta's 6,000 pilots. Delta and its pilots remained in talks over the weekend on a new post-merger contract that would cover that group only, leaving negotiations with Northwest's 5,000 pilots for a later day, these people said.

That approach, not the one Delta and Northwest executives originally had hoped to take, risks acrimony between the pilot groups and management distractions just when the two carriers would embark on a lengthy antitrust review of the merger by the Justice Department.

The deal still could run aground or be delayed because of disagreements between the two carriers or between them and their labor groups. Other issues to be resolved over the weekend were a couple of key deal terms that earlier had been decided were being reappraised in light of the deteriorating financial conditions plaguing the industry, said one person with knowledge of the situation.

It wasn't clear Sunday if the two airlines would proceed without an accord between Delta and its pilots. Talks between the two sides broke down last week over financial terms, but negotiations picked up again over the weekend with the hope of reaching agreement as soon as Monday, these people said. Legally and contractually, the carriers don't need their pilots' support to go ahead with the merger.

A spokeswoman for Delta's pilot union declined to comment. A spokesman for the Northwest pilots couldn't be reached.

One way or the other, if Delta and Northwest proceed and the transaction receives regulatory approval, the combined carrier would be the largest in the world by traffic. Such a merger -- or even the prospect of one -- is expected to set off a wave of consolidation, with UAL Corp.'s United Airlines and Continental Airlines Inc. seen as the next possible pairing. (Wall Street Journal, Sunday April 13, 2008)