Delta talks with pilots may aid merger with Northwest: report

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc (DAL.N) and Northwest Airlines NWA.N could proceed with their merger announcement as early as next week if Delta's management wins in talks with its pilots, the Wall Street Journal said citing people familiar with the situation.

Merger talks between the two airlines cooled in March when pilots from both failed to agree on how seniority would work for the roughly 12,000 pilots in the combined carrier.

But it was reported recently that the airlines agreed to revive merger talks.

Delta and its pilots have been discussing a new contract that would be valid if the merger went through, but only for Delta aviators, the Journal said, citing people familiar with the talks.

Delta pilots are being asked to get rid of some restrictions in their current labor agreement to give the merged airline more flexibility, the Journal said.

The Northwest pilots' contract doesn't have as much restrictive language, the Journal reported, quoting sources familiar with the situation.

Delta is in talks with its pilots and hopes to reach an agreement by the end of the week, the report said citing people familiar with the situation. The faster both sets of pilots have the same contract and get on the same seniority list, the sooner the combined company can realize savings, the Journal said.

Delta representatives were not immediately available for comment.

A Northwest representative declined to comment.

(Reporting by Aarthi Sivaraman; Editing by David Cowell)