Why am I not excited about this?

I can think of many reasons.

But whether I am excited about it or not — Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines made their not-so-secret engagement official this afternoon — as the two airlines announced their intention to merge.

According to the various PR releases that were issued, Delta and Northwest will combine in an all-stock transaction with a combined enterprise value of $17.7 billion, creating the nation’s largest passenger carrier.

Northwest shareholders will receive 1.25 Delta shares for each Northwest share they own, representing a premium to Northwest shareholders of 16.8% based on Monday’s closing prices.

Yes, Delta is considered the acquiring carrier in this one.

Maybe one of the reasons I’m not so excited about this deal (besides the fact that Delta Air Lines’ management had to basically bribe their pilot union to go along with the deal, a bribe that included pay raises and a new contract) is that the Northwest Airlines’ pilot group was essentially shut out of the party last week — while Delta Air Lines cut a nice new deal with its pilots.

I talked about this here. I talked about it last week in PlaneBusiness Banter.

I don’t understand the rationale in this move with the Delta pilots — one that essentially puts a gun to the side of the Northwest pilots’ head. Go along with everybody else — you have no choice.

Not surprisingly, not long after all the party balloons were released this afternoon, the Northwest Airlines’ pilot MEC issued a release that reaffirmed my earlier misgivings about this bizarre situation.

Some snippets from the release issued not too long ago:

Dave Stevens, the NWA MEC Chairman, stated, ‘This agreement clearly disadvantages NWA pilots both with respect to economic issues and seniority list integration. A merger built on this unstable foundation is likely to put the combined airline in a position similar to that of USAirways. A USAirways-style labor relations scenario at the merged carrier, combined with the current and projected price of fuel and the looming economic downturn, is likely to place the Northwest pilots and all other Northwest employees at greater risk than as a stand-alone carrier.’

This merger announcement comes after months of negotiations which had resolved all joint pilot contract issues, but which stalled due to differing views on the integration of pilot seniority. The NWA MEC, on numerous occasions, stated their willingness to resolve the seniority integration by expedited arbitration. The Delta MEC rejected arbitration as a means of resolving the seniority list issue at that time.

‘The NWA MEC will use all resources available to aggressively oppose the merger. The risk to Northwest Airlines and to the Northwest pilot group from letting this merger proceed, as it is now structured, is simply too great.”‘

Ticker: (NYSE:DAL), (NYSE:NWA)