European Commission clears Delta-NWA merger

American carriers Delta Air Lines (DL) and Northwest Airlines (NWA) received approval for their proposed merger from the European Commission (EC) yesterday, even as they remain months away from receiving anti-trust clearance from the US Dept of Justice.

Delta had announced in April that it would acquire NWA in an all-stock transaction to create the world's largest airline.

The EC characterised the transaction as "mainly complementary" as the carriers are based in different US cities and operate largely separate trans-Atlantic routes. Overlapping takes place mostly on routes where one offers direct and the other indirect services, the EC noted. "The results of the market investigation. . .did not identify any concerns on the overlap routes," it said.

DL CEO Richard Anderson, who will head the combined airline, described the EC approval as "another important step toward completing our pro-competitive" merger with NWA, adding, "We continue to work closely with the US Dept. of Justice and remain confident that we will be able to finalize the merger by the end of the year."

The EC assessment also noted the fact that DL and NWA are both SkyTeam members and already cooperate extensively on trans-Atlantic routes with the European member airlines of that alliance.