EU clears purchase of Northwest Airlines by Delta : US Business

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc won permission from the European Commission on Wednesday to buy rival U.S. carrier Northwest Airlines Corp for more than $3 billion.

The new airline, led by Delta chief executive Richard Anderson, will be headquartered in Atlanta and will operate under Delta's flag with over $35 billion in annual revenue and about 75,000 employees.

Delta and Northwest both exited bankruptcy last year.

"After examining the operation, the Commission concluded that the transaction would not significantly impede effective competition in the European Economic Area (EEA) or any substantial part of it," the EU executive said in a statement.

(Reporting by David Lawsky and Ingrid Melander; Editing by Huw Jones)

(c) Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.