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New Delta CEO Raises Questions

Appointment revives rumors that merger with Northwest is preparing for takeoff

By Sam Gale Rosen,  Newser Staff

Posted Aug 22, 2007 8:48 AM CDT

(Newser) – Delta's choice for its new CEO—an outsider who won the job over two internal candidates—is raising questions, the Journal reports. Newly emerged from 19 months of wrangling in bankruptcy court, the airline appointed former Northwest CEO Richard Anderson yesterday, sparking speculation about a future merger with Northwest and a possible new post-Chapter 11 strategy.

Anderson immediately shot down the merger rumor, saying, "Between Northwest and Delta there are no plans." Delta's outgoing CEO, Gerald Grinstein, had said that he hoped his successor would be Jim Whitehurst or Ed Bastian, both of whom were interviewed. Bastian will stay with the airline, but turnaround specialist Whitehurst's future is unclear.

Gerald Grinstein, CEO of Delta Air Lines, listens to the CFO of Delta, Ed Bastian, not pictured, speak to the media after exiting bankruptcy court in New York, Wednesday, April 25, 2007.  A federal bankruptcy judge approved a Delta Air Lines plan to exit bankruptcy after the nation's third-largest airline...
Gerald Grinstein, CEO of Delta Air Lines, listens to the CFO of Delta, Ed Bastian, not pictured, speak to the media after exiting bankruptcy court in New York, Wednesday, April 25, 2007. A federal bankruptcy...   (Associated Press)
 2007.  (AP Photo/Ric Feld, file)
2007. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, file)   (Associated Press)
Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson describes some proposed improvements to the Lindbergh Terminal of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during a news conference at the airport in Minneapolis, in this Sept. 21, 2004 file photo. Delta Air Lines Inc. planned to name former Northwest Airlines Corp. Chief Executive Richard Anderson...
Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson describes some proposed improvements to the Lindbergh Terminal of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport during a news conference at the airport in Minneapolis,...   (Associated Press)
 -month reorganization that saw it shed billions in costs. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
-month reorganization that saw it shed billions in costs. (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)   (Associated Press)
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