DORGAN TO HOST MEETING WITH NORTHWEST, DELTA AIR LINES AND NORTH DAKOTA OFFICIALS ON EFFECTS OF MERGER
Thursday, November 13, 2008
CONTACT: Justin Kitsch
or Brenden Timpe
PHONE: 202-224-2551
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) announced today that the President of Delta Air Lines, Ed Bastian, will attend a meeting hosted by Dorgan in the state to brief North Dakotans on the airline’s service plans for the state now that the merger between Northwest and Delta Air Lines has received final approval and is on the road to completion.
Dorgan said the meeting will be held Thursday, December 4, at 11:00 a.m. at the Bismarck Airport. Dorgan is inviting the state’s other elected officials to the meeting, as well as airport and city officials from the cities that have been served by Northwest Airlines.
“North Dakota has a heavy reliance on service by Northwest Airlines, and it’s important for us to have a discussion with top executives from the airline about their plans to serve our state as the service becomes Delta Air Lines,” said Dorgan, who is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee. “I appreciate the willingness of the airline president to agree to my request to come to Bismarck to brief us on his company’s plans for the future.”
“I want this meeting to be a candid exchange of views between the airline’s president and his staff with the airport operators in North Dakota,” said Dorgan.
“As the airlines reduced their service around the country in recent months, Northwest kept a reasonably good schedule in North Dakota. We want to be sure we receive the needed frequency of flights and competitive air service prices here in North Dakota,” said Dorgan.
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