Ratings outlook downgraded for airline bankruptcy-affected hubs

SYDNEY (Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation) - Fitch Ratings has warned that bankruptcy filings by Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines raise the risks for their respective hub airports, with the spectre of service reductions. Northwest's hubs at Minneapolis-St Paul, Detroit and Memphis, all share a negative outlook. Fitch also stated that Delta's hub airports (Atlanta, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City) are "particularly vulnerable", as they rely on the scheduling decisions of the airline to generate significant levels of transfer traffic to complement local origin and destination traffic.