ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines says it has reached an agreement with Northwest Airlines to take over Northwest and create the world’s biggest carrier.
The boards of both companies gave the deal the go-ahead Monday.
Delta says the combined airline will have an enterprise value of $17.7 billion. It will be based in Atlanta, and Delta CEO Richard Anderson will head the combined company.
The announcement comes a year after the two carriers emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Both carriers are losing money again but are in much better shape than the four much-smaller airlines that have filed for bankruptcy or gone out of business in recent weeks.
The deal will need antitrust approval, and integrating the work forces of fully unionized Northwest and Delta, where pilots are currently the only major unionized work group, will be tricky.
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