How lucky can we be.

The announced merger of Delta Air Lines and Northwest is the best news Atlanta has had in a long time.

MARIA SAPORTA • E-mail Saporta Recent columns

Given the recent twists and turns of the volatile airline industry, the outcome easily could have left Atlanta without its hometown airline. And Atlanta without Delta's headquarters would have been too devastating a blow to imagine.

That scenario came dangerously close to becoming reality. First, Delta entered into bankruptcy, exposing the financial vulnerabilities of both the airline and the industry.

Then, US Airways saw an opening and launched an intense effort to acquire Delta — a move that would have moved the airline's headquarters out of Atlanta.

Amazingly, Delta was able to maneuver itself out of bankruptcy. Delta also was able to launch its own counter-campaign to keep the airline independent and based in Atlanta.

But the threats did not disappear.

Several months ago, another nightmare scenario arose. The possibility of United Airlines acquiring Delta. Again, that would have meant the end of the Atlanta-based airline. United would have gobbled up the Delta name and moved the headquarters to Chicago.

Again, that would have shot a bullet through Atlanta's economic heart.

By contrast, the Delta-Northwest merger is the fairy-tale ending to a story that easily could have been woven into a tragedy.

In short, Atlanta wins. Atlanta wins big.

The headquarters of the largest airline in the world will be based in Atlanta, the home of the busiest airport in the world.

That guarantees Atlanta's dominance on the international stage and catapults the city's status as an economic powerhouse.

More so than ever, Atlanta will be the crossroads for business and pleasure travelers seeking easy access all over the United States and to every major international city.

For Sam Williams, president of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the merger represents a new plateau, just as significant as the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

"That's how big this is for me," Williams said. "It's huge because it will assure Atlanta the global connectivity for international trade and tourism. And it will continue the dominant position of Atlanta as a nationwide center for companies that have employees that have to commute nationally and internationally for their daily business."

The merger also means that the triumvirate of Atlanta, Delta and Hartsfield-Jackson remains solid. Ever since Delta moved its headquarters from Monroe, La., to Atlanta in 1941, the growth of the airline, the city and the airport have been intertwined.

It's hard to envision how the continued growth of the city and the airport could have occurred without a home-based Delta linking Atlanta to the entire world.

Atlanta did beat the odds of keeping Delta intact.

Consider that Delta has not had a homegrown CEO since Ron Allen left the airline in 1997.

Consider that Richard Anderson, Delta's current CEO, had been CEO of Northwest and a big player in the Minneapolis community, Northwest's headquarters.

Consider that few of the directors on Delta's board have deep ties to Atlanta.

None of that boded well for Delta's future in Atlanta. Several leaders in the business community were clearly worried that Delta wouldn't remain as a stand-alone, Atlanta-based airline.

But Phil Kent, CEO of Turner Broadcasting System, remembered a dinner that Anderson had with key Atlanta business executives. "Richard Anderson told us all he was going to keep the headquarters here, and he was true to his word," said Kent, who said he was "thrilled."

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin also recognized Anderson. "We give special thanks to Richard Anderson for being tenacious and smart and of being supportive of Atlanta," she said. "Kudos to the team, both the Delta and the Northwest teams, that put this together."

The Delta-Northwest merger also is reassuring on another level. In the past several years, Atlanta has lost the headquarters of some of its top corporate citizens — BellSouth, Georgia-Pacific, John H. Harland Co., and Scientific-Atlanta, among others. And there's constant paranoia that Atlanta-based SunTrust could be acquired by an out-of-state bank.

Losing another corporate headquarters, especially one as vital to the city's economy as Delta, would have been a debilitating blow to our ego.

After all, Atlanta is a business town. It's a city that was built by business leaders seeking to make it a welcoming place for commerce and development. And most of Atlanta's civic endeavors are initiated by the business community, working with local governments to give the city and the region a competitive edge.

So Atlanta is lucky that Delta is not going away. In fact, Delta is going to be bigger than ever, which only bodes well for the future.

"It's really important," Franklin said of the Delta-Northwest merger. "It's one of the most important things that could happen to Atlanta."