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Delta To Pay Off $175M In Minnesota Debt

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Delta Air Lines Inc. will have to repay $175 million in loans tied to a long-ago bailout of Northwest Airlines because it is closing training centers for pilots and flight attendants in Minnesota, where Northwest was based.

The agency that runs Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport confirmed the early repayment on Wednesday. Delta has said it will close the facilities to save money.

An airport spokesman says the money is expected to be repaid around the beginning of next year -- four years early -- and will go to bondholders, not the government. Repaying the money frees Delta of its last commitment tied directly to the help that Northwest got in the early 1990s. However, Delta's lease at the airport still requires it to keep at least 10,000 workers in Minnesota.

(© Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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