Delta Wins EU Approval to Buy Northwest Airlines

Delta wins EU approval to buy Northwest Airlines

BRUSSELS, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) — Delta Airlines of the United States won approval from the European Union (EU) on Wednesday to buy its smaller U.S. rival Northwest for more than three billion U. S. dollars.

The European Commission, the EU’s antitrust watchdog, said in a statement that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the EU.

Delta, the third-largest U.S. airline, is a network airline providing domestic and international scheduled air passenger and cargo transport. It flies to 119 international destinations including 32 cities in the EU.

Northwest Airlines is also a network airline providing domestic and international scheduled air passenger and cargo transport. It flies to 50 international destinations including 15 cities in the EU.

Delta and Northwest announced an 18-billion-dollar merger in April, which would create the largest airline in the world with over 35 billion U.S. dollars in annual revenue and about 75,000 employees.

The Commission said from the European perspective, the activities of the two carriers overlap in the provision of scheduled air passenger and cargo transport between Europe and the United States, but the present transaction would not raise competition concerns.

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