Would a Delta deal affect Salt Lake?

US Airways made a hostile $8 billion bid for Delta Air Lines on Wednesday, ignoring Delta's repeated statements that it isn't interested in a merger.

And although the move could start a stampede of competing bids in a long-predicted industry consolidation, a US Airways spokesman said it is not expected to put Salt Lake City's Delta hub at risk.

When US Airways merged with America West in September 2005, the company took on America West's Phoenix hub. But US Airways spokesman Philip Gee said that hub's proximity to Salt Lake City International Airport would not be a problem.

"A Phoenix and a Salt Lake hub can run very complementary to each other," Gee said. He said Phoenix would be considered a hub for connections in the Southwest, and Salt Lake would serve flights that would be more conveniently routed through the Intermountain West.

In addition to Phoenix, US Airways has hubs in Philadelphia and Charlotte, N.C. Delta's other hubs are in Cincinnati and Atlanta, the latter also serving as the airline's headquarters.

Gee also said the company has no plans to change staffing levels, so a merger would not impact employment at the Salt Lake airport. Rather, he said, a merger would open more flight routes to Utah customers. US Airways currently operates seven flights a day from Salt Lake to Phoenix and two a day from Salt Lake to Las Vegas.

Salt Lake airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann said the airport had no comment on the proposed merger.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. told KSL-TV that he received a call from US Airways executives Wednesday morning.

"It was mostly a calming gesture," he said, "and that is, 'We know you're going to be reading about this, but we want you to know that if everything works out and this transaction goes through, that we fully anticipate that things will remain as they are."'

Proposals and impacts

A US Airways-Delta combination is far from a done deal. Analysts said United Airlines' parent company may make its own move to acquire Delta, and takeover bids for Northwest Airlines, which like Delta is being reorganized in bankruptcy court, can't be ruled out.

They also questioned whether US Airways could complete its plan to create the nation's largest carrier, even after a planned 10 percent cut in capacity, on the compacted timeline it is seeking.