Delta Air Lines, Inc. (OTC:DARLQ) moved up $0.08, or 6.15%, to $1.38 this morning on news that the company has received an increased unsolicited bid from U.S. Airways. The new offer is for 89.5 million shares of U.S. Airways stock and $5 billion in cash, compared to the original offer of 78.5 million in stock and $4 billion in cash. Obviously, the overall value of the deal depends largely on the value of U.S. Airways stock; however, they estimated the new bid at between $12.7 billion to $15.4 billion.

While Delta has already disclosed their five year plan to emerge from bankruptcy, there are many investors and debt-holders that are looking to get their money back sooner through a merger or sale of the company. However, in an official response, Delta said, "Delta's Board of Directors will fulfill its fiduciary duty to review the revised unsolicited merger proposal announced today by US Airways. On its face, the revised proposal does not address significant concerns that have been raised about the initial U.S. Airways proposal and, in fact, would increase the debt burden of the combined company by yet another $1 billion." Clearly, this bid is an improvement; however, without management approval it is unlikely that the bid will go through. But, with the possibility for further dialogue between U.S. Airways and Delta, there is a possibility that an agreement could be reached. This makes Delta a stock worth watching over the next few months.

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