By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

HEBRON - The new alliance between Delta Air Lines and its next two largest competitors could mean major shakeups for which carriers operate where at the local airport.

And it's leading officials at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport to consider many options, including abandoning Terminal 1, the airport's original passenger building.

The deal among Delta, Continental and Northwest, approved late Monday by the federal Transportation Department, allows the three airlines to share some information as well as sell seats on one another's flights while keeping their own name on the ticket, a practice known as code-sharing.

The deal does not directly apply to local travelers. That's because non-connecting direct flights between hub cities are exempt for what federal regulators called "competitive reasons," and the only competing flights between the three airlines are to each other's hubs.

But the agreement calls for Northwest and Continental to give up their five gates at the Cincinnati airport and move into Delta's Terminal 3 to ease connections at Delta's hub, although no time frame has been given for such moves.

Yet if Northwest were to leave Terminal 1, which was built in 1947, that would leave the building with only US Airways and Skyway/Midwest Express.

No final decisions have been made on which airlines will go where. But one of the possibilities is moving US Airways into the vacant spot left by Continental in Terminal 2, and finding room for Midwest Express in the same building.

That would leave Terminal 1 and its nine gates vacant. The building also houses the airport's administrative offices and those would stay put for the time being.

"That could be one of the things, but we have some other options," airport aviation director Bob Holscher said. He said he wanted to present those options to the airport's board of directors before discussing them publicly.

Airport planners want to present a new plan on what to do with the terminals to the board by June, updating the airport's original 20-year master plan of 1994.

That plan called for the demolition of Terminals 1 and 2, with both buildings to be replaced by a larger terminal more of the style of Delta's Terminal 3, which houses that airline's second-largest hub operation.

"One thing is to make the plan as flexible as possible, so we can react to changes such as this in the industry," Holscher said, adding that Northwest has notified him of its hopes to move in the near future, but Continental has yet to send such a notice.

Holscher said any option would have to consider the airport's competition plan.

"We need to keep gates available in case another carrier wants to come and operate out of here," said Holscher, who said only five or six of Terminal 1's gates are currently used.

The projected costs for the original 20-year plan were almost $800 million nine years ago; the new plan will also update possible costs.

Vacating Terminal 1 locally could be a practical option for the airport, since it is the facility's oldest building and hardest to maintain.

Its main men's bathroom is located down a set of stairs, although a handicapped restroom is availableDelta spokesman John Kennedy said it was premature for the airline to comment on specifics regarding possible moves involved with the code-sharing deal.

But the airline is already planning to renovate its Terminal 3 lobby this spring as it moves to automate customer service to reduce lines and employee headcount.

Continental spokesman Rashaan Johnson said similar plans to possibly move airlines are also in place at that airline's hub in Houston. He said Delta would be moving to a new terminal there once construction was complete sometime this summer.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com