Airline dealmakers may be in for a very long haul. The Wall Street Journal reports that a deal between Delta and Northwest could be announced as early as next week after major snags over how management of the combined airline would be structured were overcome earlier this week. It also said talks between United parent UAL Corp and Continental have grown more serious. But a senior U.S. House of Representatives Democrat influential on aviation matters told Reuters he plans to build a strong case against airline mergers if one or more consolidation proposals materializes. Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, chairman of the Transportation Committee, also told the Reuters Regulation Summit he is preparing to give regulators and antitrust officials the “long view” on congressional concerns and what a series of mergers could do to service, fares and consumer choice.

Still up in the air, Air One said its renewed bid for Alitalia was open to domestic and foreign investors, as the small Italian airline continued efforts to drum up support for its plans to buy the country’s flagship airline. Air One has filed a lawsuit seeking an annulment of the decision allowing exclusive talks between Alitalia and Air France-KLM and is preparing a new bid after its previous offer was rejected by Italy’s outgoing government.

Spanish bank Santander is having second thoughts about its option to increase its stake in Sovereign. “The circumstances have changed,” bank Chairman Emilio Botin said, adding “Now, given the uncertainty there is in the U.S. market, the caution one has to have means that we simply think that we have a contract that ends in 2010.” In September, Botin said he would be interested in buying the rest of Sovereign, in which Santander already owns a 24.9 percent stake.