Pilots at Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines appear to have given up efforts to combine their seniority lists, which was considered essential to the two carriers? hopes for a merger without crippling rancor. Both carriers may soon announce cutbacks in service instead, as they adjust to $100-a-barrel oil and an expected slowdown in business travel. Lee Moak, chairman of the Delta chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association, said in a letter to the carrier?s 6,300 pilots on Monday that seniority talks with Northwest?s 4,500 pilots ? he did not name Northwest, but others have confirmed that the two sides were in negotiations ? had broken off.
See "Pilots? Talks Apparently Fail in a Northwest-Delta Hookup", Jeff Bailey, The New York Times, March 17, 2008