From the Wall Street Journal

Delta Aims to Unveil
Northwest Merger Pact
By SUSAN CAREY and PAULO PRADA
April 14, 2008; Page A1

Delta Air Lines Inc. and Northwest Airlines Corp. may unveil their long-delayed merger announcement as early as Tuesday, said people familiar with the matter, in the latest move by airlines to grapple with high fuel prices and a softening economy.

The deal could value Northwest at roughly $3 billion, these people said, though terms were still being negotiated. That would be well below Northwest's market value of more than $4.6 billion as of Feb. 1, reflecting the industry's worsening prospects in recent weeks.

Moving ahead with a deal risks a clash with the airlines' pilots, who don't have veto power but can complicate a merger. Delta and its roughly 6,000 unionized pilots remained in talks over the weekend on a new post-merger contract that would cover that group only.

It wasn't clear Sunday whether Delta, the nation's third-largest airline by traffic, and No. 5 Northwest would proceed with their merger without an accord. A spokeswoman for the Delta pilots' union declined to comment.