New York  - Delta Air Lines ended the year with steep losses in the final quarter of2008 as it completed its merger with Northwest, the company said Tuesday.

Losses for the year at what is now the world's largest airline came to 1.4 billion dollars in the final quarter of the year, compared with losses of 70 million dollars in the year-earlier period. Excluding one-time costs related to the merger, the loss amounted to 340 million dollars, or 50 cents per share.

Revenues rose by 43 per cent to 6.7 billion dollars after the October takeover, the Atlanta, Georgia-based firm said. Figures for Northwest are included in the last two months of the year.

The losses included 900 million dollars paid to employees as part of the merger. Delta also suffered from agreements to purchase jet fuel in advance after energy prices fell drastically since the summer.

For the year, Delta lost 8.9 billion dollars. Revenue rose 18 per cent 22.7 billion dollars. (dpa)