National Business Digest

NATION

Impasse puts Northwest, Delta merger on hold

ATLANTA — Delta Air Lines’ pilots union has told company executives it has been unable to agree on seniority issues with its counterpart at Northwest Airlines, raising serious doubts about the prospect of a combination of the two companies. The disclosure was made Monday afternoon in a letter from the head of the pilots union at Delta, Lee Moak, to rank-and-file Delta pilots.

The letter does not mention Northwest but describes the union that Delta’s pilots had been negotiating with as the only one they were focused on talking with. Multiple officials close to the talks have said in recent months that the other company was Northwest Airlines Corp. The letter talks about the discussions with the other carrier in the past tense, suggesting at least for now there won’t be further talks.

Sunoco CEO’s pay package for ’07 totals $8.57M

PHILADELPHIA — The chief executive of Sunoco Inc. received a 2007 compensation package worth $8.57 million, up 5 percent from the prior year, according to a federal filing Monday.

The Philadelphia-based oil refiner and marketer gave John Drosdick a salary of $1.2 million, bonus of $1.8 million, and other perks worth $165,473 that include use of the company aircraft, life insurance benefits and parking at corporate headquarters. In addition, Drosdick got $5.4 million worth of stock and option awards based on the day they were granted, the Securities and Exchange Commission filing showed.

Associated Press