Delta holds its ground in Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Delta Air Lines said it would hold its ground on a tentative deal made with the commission governing the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

Some of the Metropolitan Airport Commission's 15 members have said they would prefer to amend the deal that schedules payments for bonds issued on behalf of Northwest Airlines and retracts penalties levied on the airline for closing Northwest's Eagan, Minn., headquarters.

Delta purchased Northwest in October, taking over the $245 million bonds debt Northwest owed to the MAC. The commission and the airline agreed in December to reschedule payments so the bonds would be paid off in 2016.

"We could easily pay back the $245 million note to the bondholders and not make any firm commitments" in Minnesota, Delta Chief Executive Officer Richard Anderson said Thursday.

But, he said, "we're committed to Minnesota; we're committed to the Minneapolis hub."

The tentative agreement, negotiated by two MAC members, commits Delta to moving executives of the airline's regional carriers from Atlanta to Minneapolis and the headquarters of subsidiary Compass Airlines from Virginia to Minnesota.

The commission is scheduled to ratify or reject the deal in a meeting Jan. 26.