Feb 19, 2008 8:24 am US/Central
In The Know: Mixed Feelings On Delta-NWA Merger
(WCCO)
We've heard all day from people weighing in on the possible loss of Northwest Airlines to Atlanta's Delta -- everything from "we're sunk" to "good riddance." Don Shelby says it is not as simple as that.
If Northwest pulls up stakes and moves out the headquarters, furniture and staff, and empties out the concourses, other airlines will move into the void. We will still be able to fly out of here in the winter.
And, with some competition, the cost of doing so might be cheaper. But business folk who rely on the Northwest to make direct flights every week on business will be hurt.
Speaking of people who will be hurt, how about the 11,000-plus families in Minnesota who have relied on Northwest for a paycheck?
I have had my own problems with Northwest Airlines, but everyone I ever met who worked there seemed inordinately decent. I couldn't figure it out. I still can't. Delta could write the state a check for $445 million today and call it even, but it would be far from that.
I'm not sure that I'd miss the big red tail, but I know for sure the neighborhood will not be the same without the men, women and children who make Northwest Airlines a part of Minnesota.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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