P. M. BRIEFING : Skinner Informs Checchi on Study

Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner met today with Los Angeles investor Alfred Checchi to disclose findings of his review of Checchi’s $4-billion takeover of NWA Inc., parent of Northwest Airlines.

But the Transportation Department will not comment on the meeting or on Skinner’s findings, said Hal Paris, a department spokesman. The findings may be made public next week, Paris added.

Skinner “didn’t want Mr. Checchi reading about (the findings) in the paper,” Paris said.

Checchi could not be reached for comment after the meeting and a Northwest spokesman did not immediately return a phone call.

Checchi led a group including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines that agreed during the summer to pay $121 a share for NWA, based in Eagan, Minn.

Skinner has expressed concern about the foreign ownership and safety of airlines taken over in leveraged buyouts. Northwest, the nation’s fourth-largest airline, was saddled with a $3.1-billion debt after the takeover.

Skinner has the power to revoke the airline’s operating certificate but that is considered unlikely.