WASHINGTON - To Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, the chief executives of Delta and Northwest airlines vowed the merger wouldn't hurt the Delta hub at Salt Lake City International Airport and might lead to flights to Europe and Asia.
To Rep. Stephen Cohen, D-Tenn., they talked about the importance of Memphis and how the merger may even boost traffic through the airport. To Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., the executives said the new merger wouldn't harm the independence of Midwest Airlines, which is partly owned by Northwest.
All politics is local, and when airlines talk of merging, it's especially local to the members of Congress reviewing the details.
The top executives of Delta and Northwest appeared before two committees on Thursday, pitching the merger of their respective companies as a positive deal for stockholders, employees and travelers. And, under questioning by committee members, hyped the importance of the merger to their hometowns.
Representatives and senators whose states rely on the two airlines for flights, employment and tourist traffic - including Georgia, Utah, Minnesota, Tennessee, Wisconsin - showed up ready to quiz the executives.
"This is a matter of the highest importance to all of our states and, in particular, Utah," Sen. Orrin Hatch said in his opening remarks.
The most stressed point on Thursday: Hubs will remain.
"There are no hub closures," Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson told the House Judiciary task force on antitrust matters.
In fact, Anderson said, the merger will boost service to small communities and will make the hub system even stronger. "Hubs get stronger when you have more traffic flow," he testified before the congressional panel. "When you combine unique cities, you create a stronger patchwork" for the system.
It wasn't all just local, though.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., focused his opening remarks on how the merger would affect the industry, and by extension, travelers.
"I'm concerned that if this merger is approved it will simply result in a cascade of other mergers: Continental- United, American and U.S. Airways," Conyers said. "We might end up in a situation of three major carriers" competing with smaller carriers.
But Hatch said he sees the merger as the reality of the airline industry and the two companies as complimentary to each other.
And assured Utah would be OK in the merger, Hatch took a few moments out of his questioning time to pose some questions for his Senate colleague, Chuck Grassley of IowaÂ. They were all about Iowa.
This article by Thomas Burr appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune April, 25, 2008
