The merger between US carriers Delta and Northwest has been completed, a move that will gradually see the Northwest name disappear from our skies.
Northwest is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta, and under the terms of the merger, the new combined airline will be headquartered in Atlanta and known as Delta.
Over the next 12-24 months Delta’s brand will be introduced throughout the Northwest fleet, including its livery, uniforms, in-flight entertainment and onboard amenities. Flight schedules will also be merged under the Delta code, and the carriers’ loyalty programmes will be consolidated. Delta says that there will be “immediate complimentary upgrade reciprocity for elite members of both airlines’ loyalty programmes, with airport lounge reciprocity continuing as usual”.
The carrier says that with the acquisition of Northwest, Delta is now “the world’s largest airline”, serving over 170 million passengers per year. The completion of the merger comes amid increased consolidation within the airline industry, with Lufthansa yesterday announcing it was increasing its share of Bmi to 80 per cent (see online news October 29).
Virgin Atlantic (which itself is 49 per cent owned by Singapore Airlines) has proposed combining Bmi’s and Virgin’s long and short-haul networks, while BA is currently pursuing a merger with Iberia, although this has now been delayed until next year.
For more information visit delta.com, nwa.com.
Report by Mark Caswell
