UPDATE 1-EU clears purchase of Northwest Airlines by Delta

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BRUSSELS, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) won permission from the European Commission on Wednesday to buy rival U.S. carrier Northwest Airlines Corp NWA.N for more than $3 billion.

The new airline, led by Delta Chief Executive Richard Anderson, will have its headquarters in Atlanta and will operate under Delta's flag with over $35 billion in annual revenue and about 75,000 employees.

Delta and Northwest both exited bankruptcy last year.

"After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it," the EU executive said in a statement.

The EU executive said the two companies' activities in carrying passengers on transatlantic routes were mainly complementary as they have hubs in different U.S. cities.

It also said that for transatlantic cargo transport the deal would have only a limited impact because of the companies' limited presence in this market.

The statement said the decision would not affect its investigation of the SkyTeam alliance of airlines, of which both Delta and Northwest are members.

The Commission noted that it had previously found that members of alliance "could not to be considered as effective competitors on transatlantic routes". (Reporting by David Lawsky and Ingrid Melander; Editing by David Holmes)