COURT BLOCKS DELTA-WESTERN AIRLINES MERGER
A U.S. Appeals court last night
blocked the 860 mln dlr merger of Delta Airlines Inc <DAL.N>
and <Western Airlines> just hours before it was to go into
effect because of a dispute over union representation.
    The ruling came in a lawsuit in which the Air Transport
Employees union said Western's management should fulfil a
promise to honour union contracts if a merger took place.
    The airlines argued that Western's promise could not be
enforced in a takeover by a larger company. Airlines officials
could not be reached for comment on the ruling, which halts the
merger until arbitration on the dispute is completed.
 REUTER
