Delta reworks loan with Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport

Minneapolis — Delta Air Lines and the commission running the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport are reworking terms of a loan Delta inherited when it acquired Northwest Airlines.

A tentative deal outlined for the Metropolitan Airport Commission could cut an additional 1,500 jobs in Minnesota. The airline has about 11,500 workers in Minnesota and is in the process of offering buyouts.

The proposal would also allow Delta to avoid accelerated payment of the remaining $245 million balance of the loan issued in 1992, and it would require Delta to offer 400 daily flights at the airport.

Delta acquired Eagan-based Northwest Airlines in late October, forming the world’s largest airline. The acquisition means Northwest’s Eagan headquarters will be phased out, and the new Delta will retain Atlanta as its base.

The agreement also would keep certain corporate functions in Minnesota for a while. Those functions include the headquarters for Delta’s regional flight operations — where Mesaba Airlines and Compass Airlines would be based. Comair, another Delta regional airline, would have key decision makers in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Other functions in Minnesota, such as reservations centers, a technology center and a flight-training center in Eagan, would remain for at least three years, said MAC’s general counsel Tom Anderson.

When the commission issued bonds for Northwest about 15 years ago, it required the airline to maintain its employment levels and its Minneapolis-St. Paul hub. When Delta acquired Northwest, the MAC could have required that the loan’s balance be paid off as soon as the Eagan headquarters disappeared.

The commission could vote on the package in January.