Last week in PlaneBusiness Banter I told subscribers that based on our read of the “chatter” coming to us from various sources, it looked as though we could hear in the next week or so news concerning a potential Delta-Northwest deal. Or at the very least it was pretty clear that the airline would be talking about this at its upcoming board meeting.

Today the Wall Street Journal has just gone with a story that says yes, the Delta board will be discussing a potential deal — but according to their story Delta will be looking at both a potential deal with Northwest and with United.

My take on the news?



I still think that Delta’s CEO Richard Anderson would prefer to do a deal with Northwest, if it can be structured accordingly.

However, he’s also one of the smartest CEOs we have in the industry right now, and as a result, he knows that he needs to look at all current options — and these are the two main options right now.

I still think there is more push coming from the United side on a potential deal here, than vice versa.

But again, Anderson and the board are doing what they should be doing — evaluating the possibilities.

This WSJ news really shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone. If not, they’ve not been paying attention.

Ticker: (NYSE:DAL); (Nasdaq:UAUA); (NYSE: NWA).