The new Delta Air Lines now flies out of seven U.S. hub airports, some of which -- such as Detroit and Cincinnati -- are close neighbors.

But Delta's president said Wednesday that the company is committed to maintaining those hub operations coveted by airports.

The merger between Delta and Northwest Airlines -- now just 3 weeks old -- created the world's largest airline. Added together, the new airline has seven hubs: Detroit, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Memphis, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York JFK and Salt Lake City.

Detroit is the airline's second-largest hub. Many airline observers have voiced skepticism about whether operating seven hubs make sense.

"Yes it does," Ed Bastian, Delta's president and CEO of Northwest, said in an interview with the Free Press. "And the reason for that is we've already paid for them; they are ours."

"If you started an airline from scratch, would you put a hub in Cincinnati and Detroit and Minneapolis and Memphis? No, you wouldn't. But the reality is that they are there."

The definition of a hub is inexact, but mainly it is a focal point used by airlines for incoming and outgoing long-distance flights -- a base of operations.

Bastian said both Cincinnati and Detroit are centers for big corporate accounts and great employees.

Delta has announced it will cut 12% of its flights from Cincinnati beginning in January.

Delta also announced it will drop two nonstop international flights from Detroit Metro -- Osaka, Japan, and Paris.

Bastian said both those routes were weak performers. He stressed that the airline expects to add a route from Detroit to Shanghai, China, in March and said international expansion is planned from Detroit, but would not divulge specifics.

He did say it would make sense to add routes from Detroit to Latin America.

Detroit will have a role in Delta's expansion internationally, he said, even though the local economy is slowing. Much of the airline's traffic through Detroit is connecting.

"Detroit is a wonderful facility; it's the state-of-the-art facility in North America," he said.

By 2010, Delta is striving to make 50% of its routes international flights.

However, he expects Delta to reduce the number of international flights it operates next year, slowing the pace of growth in response to economic conditions. Internationally, Delta has been growing at double-digit rates, he said.

Bastian also predicted the company would be profitable in 2009, after struggling in 2008. Delta has already pulled back flights operated by about 15%, he said.

"We are now positioned well to weather the storm of slowing demand," he said.