CEO: Northwest routes would gain Delta amenities

If its proposed merger with Northwest Airlines is approved, Delta Air Lines plans to expand some of its amenities to Northwest flights, including free in-flight snacks for coach passengers and pillows and blankets in flight, said Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson during a luncheon talk to the Commerce Club in Atlanta on Wednesday.

“It’ll be Delta’s in-flight service,” Anderson said. “We’ve made a lot of the core decisions about product and uniform and flight schedules.”

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Vino Wong / vwong@ajc.com

Delta Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson

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But Delta also is adopting some policies Northwest already has which passengers may not be as happy with, including charging a $5 to $25 fee for some window, aisle and exit row seats. Delta on Monday did a soft launch of the “Coach Choice” seats program to charge the fee.

Though Atlanta-based Delta and Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest expect approval for the deal from the U.S. Department of Justice soon, the integration will take longer.

Anderson also told the Commerce Club that he expects demand for airline travel to decline over the next two years. That could mean more cuts beyond what Delta has already made this year.

He said much of the change for Delta will likely be international flights to secondary cities in Europe.

“We’re watching closely and we want to make certain that we right size the airline,” Anderson said. He also said Delta will likely move toward a “fleet simplification,” meaning that some aircraft types may be removed from the fleet of the combined airline.

In a discussion about the nation’s air traffic control system, he said he has low expectations for the federal government’s investment in improvements, and said, “I think privatization may have to be our only route.”

Anderson also said as Delta keeps its own information technology core infrastructure, it will switch to some Northwest systems that are better than Delta’s, and Northwest’s frequent flier database and system offers more functionality that Delta frequent fliers will like.