A demise of Delta hub could be good for Salt Lake

Locally, some industry watchers think the demise of a Delta hub in Salt Lake City would be a good thing for Provo, which is building a tower for its municipal airport. Some speculate that the loss of a hub in Utah's capital would free up the market for direct commercial flights into Provo.

Yeager agrees that Provo may eventually open up for commercial flights but says a Delta hub in Salt Lake City is unrelated.

"It would come no matter what Salt Lake International is doing," he said. "There's BYU down there, the LDS Church's Missionary Training Center, Novell. So I think Provo could stand on its own."

Fighting the pilots

One aspect of Delta's restructuring plan that has been very public is its fight with its high-paid pilots over wages.

Thredgold suggested that rumors of Delta closing its Salt Lake hub could be a bargaining ploy in the negotiations.

"I think that part of (what's behind the rumor) is a bargaining ploy to get the pilots to come around to the concessions the company wants. Delta has hundreds of pilots in Salt Lake, Davis and Summit counties. The pilots have offered $700 million in concessions. Delta wants $1 billion."

Ed Thiel, a Delta pilot since 1988 when the airline merged with Western Airlines, said he sees "no evidence that they're going to close the base."

"I'm not concerned about that at this point," Thiel said. The main concern right now is making it through the negotiations, he said.

"We know we're going to take big pay cuts. We're just trying to negotiate in the most intelligent way possible."

Karen Miller, spokeswoman for the Air Line Pilots Association, said negotiations between the pilots and the airline continued at week's end but declined to discuss the status of the talks.

Even in the best-case scenario, Thredgold expects Delta to undergo some serious belt-tightening to avoid bankruptcy. That means cost-cutting, and it may mean layoffs, he said.

In the worst-case scenario, Thiel said the pilots would make do, keeping home base here in Utah.

"The majority of us love it here and would probably choose to commute to another base" rather than relocate, Thiel said. "I mean, it's not easy, but it can be done. It just takes a lot more time."

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