DELTA AND NORTHWEST are both now in Chapter 11, leaving just American Airlines, of the US ”big three” not trading in bankruptcy. The move was hardly unexpected and Delta says it will operate its full schedule of flights and honour tickets and reservations, and provide refunds and exchanges as usual. The Sky Miles programme will be continued and for the staff, wages, health-care, vacation, sick leave and similar benefits continue without interruption. The airline says it plans to streamline its fleet by only operating seven mainline aircraft types going into 2007. How long the re-organisation will take is anyone”s guess. United Airlines has been in C11 for over three years with no true end in sight. The position with Northwest, the fifth largest American airline, is much the same as Delta but an on-going strike by mechanics further complicates the situation. What happens in the future we do not know. Pan Am and TWA both disappeared after C11 problems but Continental, after twice verging on disappearing altogether, came back stronger and healthier, and US Airways (see below) is about to make a comeback. The SkyTeam Alliance, to which both Delta and Northwest belong, says that the North American problems will not affect the inter-airline relationship.
http://www.delta.com
http://www.nwa.com