Citing people familiar with the matter, The Wall Street Journal said a deal would not include a prepackaged agreement between Delta and Northwest pilots on how to combine their seniority lists.
Pilots of both airlines have been unable to agree on how to integrate the lists. Seniority determines where pilots work, what they fly, how much they earn and who gets laid off during a company downsizing.
Northwest also suggested offering pilots less generous salary terms, the Journal said on its online Web site.
The disagreement over seniority erupted in February. It appears to have upended a deal that required only the final approval of the boards of Delta and Northwest to create the world's biggest airline, which would have an airport hub in Salt Lake City.
A Delta spokesman declined to say whether the Atlanta-based carrier had received a proposal from Northwest to jump-start the stalled talks.
"As previously stated, we support industry consolidation as a vehicle to ensure Delta remains an industry leader. The special committee of our board continues to work with our senior leadership on strategic alternatives. The board, at its discretion, will act in the best interest of all Delta stakeholders," Anthony Black said in an e-mail to The Salt Lake Tribune.
But other news reports Friday also said Delta is considering a Northwest merger proposal.
Mark Saltzman, chairman of the Salt Lake City branch of the Air Line Pilots Association's Delta chapter, said the Journal report wasn't alarming because it represented the thinking only of Northwest.
"I have no idea what [Northwest's] motives are. Until Delta management starts talking that way, as far as I'm concerned things are status quo," said Saltzman, who represents 600 Salt Lake-stationed Delta pilots.
The usual approach in airline mergers has been to have pilots work out a combined labor agreement after a deal is reached. Delta and Northwest took the opposite approach, betting they could strike and close a merger quickly and avoid the seniority problems that continue to plague US Airways three years after it merged with America West.
"The seniority issue does not go away. It only becomes more complicated," said Delta pilot Michael Dunn.
Driving airlines to consider mergers is the run-up of jet fuel prices to record levels, which is threatening to throw their profits into a tailspin. Delta and Northwest both plan to reduce capacity this year, and Delta has announced plans to cut 2,000 jobs.
pbeebe@sltrib.com
