Delta, Northwest near deal

The merger announcement could happen as soon as Tuesday (it’s been making the rounds all afternoon). A deal between the two big carriers has been held up for months because pilots couldn't agree on seniority rankings for pay, number of days off and what kind of planes they would fly. If there is an agreement, the combined airline would be called Delta, with headquarters in Atlanta. It's a pretty good bet that the merger would result in layoffs, reduced service and perhaps higher fares. The latest LAX figures I could find has Delta with a 6.5 percent market share and Northwest with a 3.2 percent share. So the impact would be much less severe than cities like Atlanta and Detroit, where the airlines have major hubs.(NYT, WSJ)