The boards of Delta and Northwest airlines are poised to decide on whether to move forward with a merger, and a Minneapolis-based airline consultant says he expects an announcement of a deal by Thursday.

The New York Times reported that both boards plan an "emergency meeting" Tuesday, at which a deal might be approved. Other reports said the boards will meet Wednesday.

Terry Trippler, the Minneapolis consultant and a widely-quoted fare expert, said he expects the announcement of a deal to create an Atlanta-based mega-airline in the next two days.

"I'm telling people here: "Get over it," Trippler told the AJC Tuesday in a telephone interview. "The Fortune 500 company is gone. The headquarters is gone. The red tail is gone. But the critical thing is the hub, and we will save the hub."

Northwest has its headquarters and main hub in Minneapolis.

Trippler said he expects the announcement to be made in Atlanta, and the new airline to be called Delta.

"It will be one hell of an airline," Trippler said of a merged Delta and Northwest. "It becomes a global airline overnight."

Speculation about an impending merger has increased in recent days.

One potential hitch: the airlines are believed to want their pilot unions to reach agreement on integration before going further.

The AJC last week reported that pilots had agreed on the broad strokes of such a plan, but that details remained to be ironed out. That issue still could delay a board vote.

A Delta-Northwest marriage would create the world's biggest airline and perhaps prompt other mergers that would consolidate the industry.

One person briefed on the talks said that as far as the aftermath of a combination of Delta and Northwest is concerned, there would be staff reductions at the senior level only. At the bottom levels there will be very little, the person said.

Georgia politicians say Delta executives have assured them the merged carrier would be headquartered in Atlanta and called Delta. Delta itself has not publicly acknowledged talks with Northwest, but rather has said it is studying strategic alternatives.

The possibility of a Delta-Northwest combination has led Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to cancel an out-of-state trip.

Pawlenty was due to fly Tuesday to Las Vegas to address a renewable energy conference.

But his spokesman said the trip was called off because of "ongoing activities involving Northwest and Delta."

Spokesman Brian McClung said the administration hasn't gotten any word that a deal is about to happen, but Pawlenty wants to "be able to stay in direct contact with staff and commissioners in case his involvement is needed."

The Republican governor said it's too soon to say if he'll fight the merger because he doesn't know what a combined Northwest-Delta company would mean for Minnesota. Northwest employs 11,500 people in Minnesota.

Announcement of a deal would not make it final. A merger would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice, a process that could take months, and one whose outcome is far from certain.

Speculation has circulated that a Delta-Northwest pairing would prod rival United Airlines into a run at Continental Airlines, while American Airlines might then be forced to link up with US Airways. That would collapse the six biggest hub-and-spoke carriers into three and could intensify concerns about the effect on competition.