"We had contracts with both SkyWest and ASA, and those were affirmed by the bankruptcy court," Rich said. "Indirectly, the bankruptcy certainly affected us. As a partner of Delta it required all of us to refocus and do everything we could to create value into the Delta system. From that standpoint we all made some changes."

Rich said he had no comment on whether SkyWest would be interested in purchasing Comair, a Delta subsidiary that provides regional service for the airline. Executives at Delta have said that after the company exits bankruptcy, it will consider shedding Comair, according to an Associated Press story.

Regardless of what becomes of Comair, Delta's bankruptcy victory carried a human price. Thousands of employees were fired, wages and benefits were slashed. And a hostile takeover attempt by U.S. Airways put the airline's future as a stand-alone company in doubt.

Captain Mark Saltzman, a Sandy resident and chairman of the Utah council for the Air Line Pilots Association, has been a Delta pilot for nearly 17 years.

Pilots agreed early on to pay cuts to stave off a bankruptcy. But after the Chapter 11 filing in September 2005, more pay cuts were demanded. In all, Saltzman said, Delta pilots, who at one point were among the highest paid nationally, ended up agreeing to nearly a 50 percent reduction in pay and a terminated pension plan.

"Whether the pay cuts and all the concessions were worth it will depend upon how healthy the company is in the future," Saltzman said. "It's been a long ride in bankruptcy. We've been through a lot. We look forward to a healthy company."

Ken McConnell, a retired Delta customer service representative and a former Western Airlines public relations manager, gives praise to Delta's outgoing chief executive, Gerald Grinstein, who also served as CEO for Western, which was acquired by Delta in 1987.

"I give him a great deal of credit for not only saving Western Airlines back in the early '80s, but I think he had a major role in saving Delta Air Lines as well," McConnell said. "When Delta bought Western, Delta didn't want Western's employees and Grinstein said, 'If I'm going to sell you the company, you are going to take the employees as well.' He is very employee-oriented."

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com