Delta and Northwest try to reassure Congress on merger

By John Crawley

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chief executives of Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Northwest Airlines Corp (NWA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) sought to reassure Congress on Thursday that their planned merger would not hurt service, cut jobs, or blunt competition.

Richard Anderson of Delta and Douglas Steenland of Northwest also told a hearing of the antitrust task force in the House of Representatives that the combination would enable the two to better compete as the industry struggles with skyrocketing fuel prices.

"Oil is a game changer," said Anderson. "This merger makes us stronger when oil prices continue to increase."

Northwest and Delta blamed a doubling of fuel prices in the past year for a combined loss of $465 million in the first quarter.

The executives stressed to lawmakers the merged company, to be run by Anderson and headquartered in Atlanta, would expand service and preserve its hubs.

"Our customers and the communities we serve will benefit because this is a merger of addition, not subtraction," Steenland said.

They estimated fewer than 1,000 job losses as a result of the merger and none among front-line workers. Cuts would mainly address executive redundancies. Any job cuts, Anderson said, would be handled "in a gracious way."

But combining the companies would have no material affect on ticket prices. Anderson said they would still be set by the market. Fares have steadily risen this year in response to higher fuel.