Delta Air Lines chief executive Leo Mullin has attacked the "complete misrepresentations" made by Continental Airlines officials on the carrier's failure to reach a merger agreement.
Despite three weeks of secret bargaining, Continental eventually snubbed Delta and agreed to forge a strategic alliance with Northwest Airlines. Continental's chief executive Gordon Bethune called the Northwest offer "vastly superior" to Delta's deal. Meanwhile, it is reported that labour concerns and Delta's refusal to retain Continental's top executives scuttled the planned merger.
Mullin reveals that Continental sought a merger with Delta in August, five months before Northwest announced its plans to pursue a deal, including taking a 14% stake owned by the Air Partners investment house. Believing that he had a deal in hand, Mullin says that he was "befuddled" when Continental elected "-to turn around and dump on me".
Mullin reports that Bethune told him that labour strife would not complicate a merger, but that pilot-seniority lists would have to be merged. "They put forward an impossible condition," he says, adding that he had offered to hire top Continental executives, including president Greg Brennerman, as vice-chairman of the merged airline.
Source: Flight International
