Business Notes AIRLINES

After three months on the auction block, NWA, the parent company of Northwest Airlines, has cast its lot with the man who started the bidding war in the first place. Last week NWA's board decided to sell the company for $4.05 billion to a group of investors headed by Los Angeles financier Alfred Checchi, 41, a former Marriott executive. Checchi's partners include the Dutch airline KLM, which will invest $400 million; San Francisco investment banker Richard Blum ($100 million); and Walt Disney chief financial officer Gary Wilson ($40 million). The NWA board favored Checchi's bid because his group offered a $700 million cash down payment, pledged to keep expanding the fourth largest U.S. airline, and promised to retain the carrier's current management. But the $3.35 billion in bank loans that will be used to finance the deal will make Northwest the most heavily indebted U.S. airline after Texas Air, the parent firm of Continental and bankrupt Eastern.