Twin Cities vs. Atlanta: Round 3
Posted on April 15th, 2008 – 12:02 PMBy Casey Common
The Twin Cities and Atlanta have a history.
October 1991: Jack Morris pitches 10 innings of shutout ball to give the Twins a dramatic seventh-game World Series victory over the Braves.
January 1999: Payback time. Falcons kicker Morten Andersen hits a 38-yard field goal in overtime to send the Vikings to a heartbreaking 30-27 upset loss — and the Falcons to the Super Bowl.
Now Atlanta strikes again where it hurts, this time in the business world, with Atlanta’s Delta Air Lines acquiring Northwest Airlines. Let’s be honest: As much as we’ve complained about Northwest through all its financial troubles of the past 20 years, it’s also been a source of regional pride. (He might be a bum, but he’s our bum!)
What’s your view? Is this another victory for Atlanta in a regional rivalry? Or are you hopeful for a brighter future in the troubled airline industry? What would you say to Atlanta residents about this deal?
You can read what they’re saying to us at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s blog.
41 Responses to "Twin Cities vs. Atlanta: Round 3"
As a resident of the New Orleans area I can tell you that Atlanta has been cannibalizing our economy for years. They have a huge business base, but it’s not enough, they keep stealing business from us whenever they can. As an example, following Hurricane Katrina, the City Of Atlanta/Atlanta Police Dept sent recruiters to New Orleans to “hire away” the officers we still had. I’m not kidding here. Talk about opportunists! They knew we were struggling to recover and needed to keep the officers we had but they actually tried to hire away as many officers as they could, offering them more money. That is greed and avarice on a grand scale and typifies the Atlanta civic mindset. Good luck to you Minnesotans. I only wish you the best regarding Northwest Airlines.
Northwest always had crabby employees (especially the stewardesses)and higher airfares than Delta. You couldn’t pay me enough to live in MN (I grew up there) so I think it will be a good deal for the employees who have to relocate to Atlanta.
What’s in store for the Twin Cities ?
The happy talk about better service aside (which could well be true, how could the service be worse?) there’s no way around less flight options and higher costs ahead for Minneapolis-St Paul. This merger is all about economies of scale…the big getting bigger, and giving the flying public one less option.
I’m a former 10+ year NWA employee who is now living and working in Atlanta. NW was a very good place to work as a programmer/analyst, and I’d rather live in the Twin Cities metro than the Atlanta metro now that I’ve lived in both places for multiple years, but the two areas have a lot in common. Atlanta needs to talk to the Twin Cities to learn how to plan roads and other things properly, and the Twin Cities needs better weather. 
Two key people involved in this issue all but assure the consumer will get shafted: Richard Anderson of Delta and Gov Pawlenty. Anderson is all about his ego and the Gov is all thumbs when the words transportaion and commerce are in the same sentence. The two no doubt will “make a deal” to keep ceratin NWA assests in MN and Anderson will milk it for all it’s worth. In the end the tax payer and MN consumer will get shafted.
It’s only fair. New Orleans sent us all of their criminals after the storm, so we had to get some cops to help keep them under control.
Koz,
That is such a cheap shot! Atlanta had plenty of criminals before. I know that for a fact. Atlanta is the only large city in the U.S. where you can drive around for an hour and still not realize where you are. Talk about GENERIC!
RCSTEINER,
Atlanta’s traffic problems aren’t due to lake of roads. They have plenty of roads. They keep building them and widening the existing ones but it all doesn’t matter in the end because more people keep moving there and they keep moving further and further out into the forest.
Cheap shot? Tell that to ABC News -
“By some estimates, hardcore criminals in New Orleans numbered in the tens of thousands, and they’re now living in other cities — Baton Rouge, Dallas, Atlanta, and Houston.”
I’ll agree that Atlanta’s public Transportation is terrible and not dependable. The train is never on time and doesn’t go out of the city far enough. Greed helped design a train system that doesn’t even stop by Turner Field because they didn’t want to lose parking revenue.
Hmmm.. let’s see.. warm weather in Atlanta.. cold weather in the Twin Cities. I think I’d rather do business and live in Atlanta.
(BTW, don’t forget Kent Hrbek pushing Ron Gant off of first base. What a cheater!)
And… who is going to pay back the loan that NWA still owes to the people of Minnesota?
“Atlanta needs to talk to the Twin Cities to learn how to plan roads …”
Wow! Their transportation system must REALLY stink if they look up to US!
Why would we want to move to a city that has so little fresh water the people are urged not to flush the toilet?
I grew up in the Twin Cities (Lakeville) and moved to Atlanta in 2004 for college. I’ve decided to remain in Georgia for financial reasons. I’ve accepted a great job and salary after graduating from GT (Georgia Tech) and love the area. There are a ton of young people, nightclubs and the economy has been resilient in spite of Coke, Home Depot and GP layoff off earlier in the year. Atlanta is a true melting pot and will continue to grow just as Nashville, Charlotte and Raleigh will.
GarryInNola, I said “plan roads”, not build them. Atlanta can build, just not wisely. Look at the respective metro maps sometime. The Twin Cities has a whole grid of secondary roads providing alternative routes both E/W and N/S, while the Atlanta metro’s secondary road system is a spider web of haphazard lines, and in many cases there *is* no easy way from point to point except on an interstate or on a single secondary road. Poor planning.
Michael, Atlanta would have plenty of water if the Lake Lanier reservoir didn’t have to send most of its water downstream to cool a couple of old and inefficient power plants in Florida and Alabama. While the City Atlanta’s water infrastructure is an aging mess, the city is only 1/10 of the metro, and the entire metro’s water usage is a fraction of the water required by the aforementioned power plants. 
screw atlanta and their drought stricken region. minneapolis all the way baby! 1991 world series champs over the pathetic braves. and for all of you snow birds from the midwest & northeast who are selfish and are only concerned with the air temperature and just pick up and leave your home cities behind as seen in some of your posts here - when you suckers run out of water and destroying each other over finite water resources don’t even think for a second about coming back to the midwest & northeast. you made you choices punks! talk all you want now. wait about 10 years.
Here’s an email from a friend inside the NWA HQ today “It’s been an emotionally draining and difficult day. There are a lot of
emotions flowing through this building today, including people literally
laughing and crying in the halls. I have two employees in their mid 50s
who have been with the company for over 30 years, have never worked for
another company, and planned to work with NW until they retire. Imagine
the thought of having to assemble a resume, search for jobs, interview
with new prospective employers, etc. when all they know is NW. These
people are scared to death.
Walking down these same halls are executives that will walk away from
this deal with millions of dollars in their pockets; people that will
never have to work another day in their lives. Being relatively new to
the industry, I’ve been able to view the day’s events more objectively,
and the observations have been fascinating. I swear you could write a
book on the different emotions and reactions to the merger, just looking
at this one day period since the deal was announced.
It’s one of those days to go home and hug the wife and kids!
Why are you all acting so uptight, if they do merge only the corporate people will move to Atlanta and the Twin Cities will still have a hub because let’s face it I’ve traveled in both of the cities airports and Atlanta’s makes yours look down right pathetic, I mean they have the busiet airport in THE WORLD, what can you say about your’s, aside from your regional pride, so why wouldn’t an airline want to be located where they get world wide exposure in a more international city which is a melting pot of people from all over.
As I commented in another NWA blog on this website: To user Atlworldport and his comment about the south (yes a small s) rising again—– the only thing that rises from the south is hot air and the smell of fecal matter.
Funny to hear Minnesotans attack Atlanta’s public transit when that city had the foresight nearly 30 years ago to build a 45 mile heavy rail subway system.
You guys stole the 91 series, the least you can do is throw some airline jobs this way.
As far as Atlanta stealing from New Orleans? Please, take back all the crack heads that moved to Atlanta after the storm. New Orleans is the toilet of America.
Just great, anybody who thinks that NWA employee’s are going to be better off is just wrong. First that asshole Steenlad (and the Boad of directors at NWA) got the workers to accept huge cuts in pay, now he’s going to help shaft them again by helping to reduce the number of people working for the company here in MN. What nobody seems to mention is what he is getting out of the deal; how does $27,500,000.00 sound AND employment at Delta. There has been some talk that this will good for MN; how can that be when workes lose jobs (high paying or not)? Not only will workers at NWA lose jobs but also in companies that support the airline. If Oberstar or Pawlenty think this is good for the state economy, then they must know something I don’t. I don’t see how reduced revenue from big business to the state (taxes) does us any good. I suppose they could always raise taxes again for the few people still living here.
What Minnesota has really needed for some time is for Southwest Airlines to be able to fly in and out of Minneapolis! NOW THAT IS WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!!!
As a current resident of Atlanta for the last 9 years and a former 20+ year resident of Minnesota - I don’t think the merger is good for consumers. Less competition means higher prices. I prefer to fly NWA to Minnesota because I don’t like the hassle of the Delta gates in ATL. I feel bad for the people who work for NWA who may lose their jobs or have to move to Atlanta. Delta is always laying off their pilots and having early retirement. Does this mean the “former” Delta employees will come back displacing the NWA employees? I just don’t see it as a good move.
Has anyone really looked into why the HQ will be in GA instead of MIN?
Try the high Minnesota taxes, simply by dumping their HQ here they will be saving millions per year. I think Minnesota’s corporate tax rate is about 10% while GA’s is about 6%
Keep it up Minnesota Democrats and you’ll turn this place into Detroit.
As a lifelong resident of Atlanta I welcome the opportunity to have a relationship with the good people of Minnesota. We have the world’s busiest airport, but we are constantly looking how to make things better. I can’t think of a better place to look than Minnesota. I look forward to working with y’all.
Atlanta is a great place to live and work. Although it is huge, it has everything you could ever want. Live here for a while and you will see that the ATL is a very unique place.
Since when did this become a Democrat vs Republican issue Brian? I wish Delta much success because if they succeed, so will our hub in Minneapolis St Paul. The headquarters stayed in Atlanta because Delta was the BIGGER airline. It’s not very common the smaller company keeps the world headquarters. Now if we can learn from Atlanta’s, Portland, Boston, New York rail system, just maybe we’ll convince large corporations look at us in a better light. It’s not always Taxes, it’s the quality of life.
Hey, Denny, what do you think the odds would be if we had a 0% corporate tax rate for businesses in Minnesota? Do you think that would attract more?
What if we had a 50% corporate tax rate? Do you think that would attract less?
Why do you think Detroit didn’t get the new car plants? Taxes.
BTW Denny, what “quality of life” does a 12 mile/billion dollar choo choo train provide that buses could not?
The LRT is a blackhole that this state will be paying for forever without seeing a benefit.
The ten best states in the Tax Foundation’s 2007 State Business Tax Climate Index are as follows:
1. Wyoming
2. South Dakota
3. Alaska
4. Nevada
5. Florida
6. Texas
7. New Hampshire
8. Montana
9. Delaware
10. Oregon
The ten worst states in the Tax Foundation’s 2007 State Business Tax Climate Index are:
41. Minnesota
42. Maine
43. Iowa
44. Nebraska
45. California
46. Vermont
47. New York
48. New Jersey
49. Ohio
50. Rhode Island
“Northwest, Delta CEOs vow strong presence in Minnesota.”
Translation: MSP, you can kiss your hub good-bye. Also, you just lost all that money NWA owed you– wait and see.
Bottom line: Atlanta won, Minnesota lost, big time. Congratulations Atlanta.
Maybe we can get Southwest at MSP. Now that they’ve got the wings duck-taped on nice and tight and are safe to fly again, that’d be nice.
I watched the news conference your whimpy Governor held. What a spineless bastard he is!! He didn,t seem very upset at all, that many people in Minnesota will lose their jobs. How far your state has fallen since H.H.H. Fight, Minnesota Fight!! If this deal goes through, your State will surely be diminished.
Lived in both cities, Mpls. is much better place to live.
The fact is that the Twin Cities will lose another big corporate headquarters. NWA has a lot of contracts with local Minnesota companies to provide services such as the on board snacks. Those contracts will probably be lost to Atlanta companies. Take a look at Northwests Worldperks offices located in Chisholm. Will that be lost? Northwest also owes a lot of money to the State of Minnesota. The one benefit could be that other airlines like Southwest Airlines could start flying out of Minneapolis giving us lower fares. Its because of Northwest blocking other airlines that flights flying out of MSP are on average more expensive than other cities across the nation. Maybe United Health or Cargill will buy more companies and bring more jobs to the Twin Cities?
The only thing I worry about is the loss of non-stop international service out of Minneapolis. The rest of the routes can be easily replaced. Hell, we can kick NWA-Delta out of half their current gates at MSP, and allow Airtran, Southwest, or even SunCountry to set up a more centrally located northern hub here. All the legacy airlines will be out of business in 10 years anyway. The business model is broken.
Regarding Deltas current hub locations, not sure how these were decided. Atlanta is a little out of the way for the majority of the country and seems like an odd location for a hub. (Try to fly from anywhere in the northern half of the US to LAX, through Atlanta. You’re on the plane all day). The hub in Salt Lake? What businesses are in Salt Lake to support a hub? Cincinnati..same question?
STEVE SAYS: “Atlanta is a little out of the way for the majority of the country” … And MINNEAPOLIS IS?! LOL! Atlanta’s location is the exact reason it IS the world’s largest/busiest airport! CHECK A MAP!
In reality, ATL is within a two-hour flight of nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population (everybody EAST of the Mississippi River) and about the same to most of central America, the Caribbean and Mexico. Nonstop flights to Great Britain, Germany, France, etc. are only 6 hours or so. Delta has had nonstop (NONSTOP!) direct flights from ATL to Tokyo for several years on the 777, and just started the same from ATL to Shanghai!
Delta invented the wheel-and-spoke hub system back in the 1950s. Ironically, the FAA first offered to make Birmingham the air hub for the Southeast region, but they didn’t want it. Go figure.
The rest is history. Come see us!
wow, I can’t believe anyone in their right mind would defend NOLA, or even talk good about it. I lived there for years. Moving to Atlanta was the best choice I ever mad. You can keep your “non-generic” crappy city. Give me a modern city that’s actually trying to improve, not live in the past.
my bumper sticker says “NOLA SUX”
MSP is a nice area, it sucks for the people there to lose NWA, but DAL will be much better
It’s not like when U.S Air tried to force Delta to sell, Delta approached the board of Northwest about the merger and they were all for it, it’s survival of the fittest and you can say what you want but these airlines have stockholders to keep happy not the cities they are operating out of.
Atlanta’s airport is the busiest because that is how Delta chooses to funnel their traffic, it is not because it is a large city of something. There are much larger cities out there that have lower traffic volumes. If you take the local traffic only and not the (plane transfers) Atlanta would not be in the top ten. If the merger goes through, Atlanta will see a big drop in traffic at its airport. The international connections will predominately go thru Detroit the cross country connections will be in MPLS, the West connections will be in Salt Lake city and the Eastern connections will be in Atlanta, with Memphis and Cinci sharing the load. Northwest has a lot of 747’s and I dont believe Delta has any. Detroit and MPLS have wide body gates for 747’s not sure how many Atlanta has, but I am pretty sure they are not set up as well. I was told this by a pilot how flys for Northwest.