Delta and Northwest form largest global airline

On Wednesday, Delta Air Lines completed its acquisition of Northwest Airlines, at a cost of $2.8 billion, creating a combined carrier that is now the world’s largest.

The two airlines finalized their agreement just hours following the Justice Department announcing that it had no objectives regarding antitrust matters.

The airline will bear the Delta name, and be headquartered in Atlanta. Richardson Anderson, the Northwest Airlines boss, will be the new carrier’s chief executive. Officials at Delta have said that air travelers won’t see many differences in the near term, but next year will see new uniforms phased in and the Northwest fleet will be repainted during 2009-2010.

The combined carrier will carry more passengers than either Air France-KLM or American Airlines, but antitrust regulators have decided that the giant airline would not negatively impact competition or consumers.

A statement issued by federal regulators said that the merger of the two airlines was likely to benefit U.S. consumers by allowing the combined airline to operate more efficiently and at reduced costs.

Regulators also noted that other airlines provide service on most of the routes in the combined Delta-Northwest network. According to the Justice Department, airline customers should also benefit from the savings on expenses for airport operations, on suppliers and on technology. The carriers have indicated that they anticipate a reduction of $2 billion a year by combining operations.

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