The Air Force says eight C-130 Hercules planes will be retired from the Minneapolis base next year. Fears that a Duluth base would close in the cutbacks did not come true.

Delta Airlines' primary headquarters and hub in Atlanta is flourishing. Not so at other hub cities. Since Delta absorbed Northwest Airlines, the Twin Cities area has lost 3,000 jobs associated with the carrier. In Memphis the number of flights has been nearly halved, pushing up air fares to the second highest in the nation. Behind Cincinnati. Which is also a Delta hub.

Pilots with the Mendota Heights-based carrier are upset that they're still working under a contract agreement inked when Sun Country was in bankruptcy. A spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association tells the Star Tribune pilots for Southwest Airlines are paid nearly twice as much as Sun Country for flying the same aircraft.

The Star Tribune reports the Atlanta-based airline appears to be swapping newer Airbus planes with older Boeing or McDonnell Douglas jets at MSP. Delta told the newspaper, "We always work to deploy the most efficient aircraft to each route, which is critical to the success of our hub at MSP." Some travelers and airport officials have complained the older planes are noisier and more cramped.

The Atlanta-based airline says the Twin Cities is a key part of its operations. Delta's senior vice president of Minnesota operations told the Star Tribune the airline is investing more than $3 million in new equipment at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Delta already employs 12,000 people in Minnesota and plans to add 400 positions in June.