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Northwest Operations Mostly Normal As Workweek Begins

Posted on: Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 00:00 CDT

MINNEAPOLIS - Business travelers got their first taste of a strike at Northwest Airlines on Monday as the nation's fourth- largest carrier flew its busiest day since mechanics walked off the job.

Operations were largely normal, although industry observers said the airline saw more delays and cancellations than usual on a typical weekday.

Northwest has refused to release statistics on delays or cancellations since the strike began Saturday. At midday Monday, a check of the airline's video screens at its Detroit hub showed delays for 23 out of 120 departures - about normal. At its Memphis, Tenn., hub later in the day, the screens showed seven of more than 120 flights canceled, none delayed.

Meanwhile, an independent travel expert found widespread delays in the strike's first two days.

Joe Brancatelli, who publishes a business travel Web site, sampled 99 of Northwest's 1,381 Sunday flights and found that 53.5 percent them left on time, according to Northwest's Web site, he said Monday. Using that method on Saturday, he found that only 46.5 percent of the sampled Northwest flights were on time. The airline has about 1,470 weekday flights.

Company spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch derided Brancatelli's numbers, but refused to say how many flights had been delayed or canceled. During August 2004, 17.6 percent of Northwest flights were late and 1 percent were canceled, according to the Transportation Department.

"The survey was unscientific and completely random, and included markets that could have been affected by weather or air traffic which impact the operations of all airlines, not just Northwest," Ebenhoch said.

Eagan-based Northwest has also said that a slowdown by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association just before the strike began on Friday caused a spike in the number of planes out of service or with minor mechanical write-ups.

"We have brought those numbers down substantially during the course of the weekend, and continue to make progress in reducing both numbers," he said. "Our operating performance since AMFA called their strike has been similar to other weekends and Mondays during the month of August."

It didn't seem that way to Phil Carlson.

Carlson, of Lakeville, Minn., was supposed to be on a 9:30 a.m. flight Monday to Denver for a business trip. But that was canceled, so he was trying to figure out what he would do for five hours before his afternoon flight.

"I really thought they'd get them out on time, so I didn't worry about it beforehand," he said.

About 4,400 Northwest unionized mechanics, cleaners and custodians walked off the job Saturday morning.

No new talks are scheduled between Northwest and the union, which is refusing to take pay cuts and layoffs that would have reduced their ranks by nearly half. The mechanics averaged about $70,000 a year in pay, and cleaners and custodians made around $40,000. The company wants to cut their wages by about 25 percent.

Anticipating the strike, Northwest switched to its fall schedule Saturday, a week earlier than planned, lightening its domestic schedule by about 17 percent.

Northwest also spent 18 months preparing for the strike, arranging for about 1,900 replacement workers, vendors and managers.

AMFA represents nearly 3,500 mechanics, about 790 cleaners and 75 custodians.

Northwest has said it needs $1.1 billion in labor savings. Only pilots have agreed to reductions, accepting a 15 percent pay cut worth $300 million when combined with cuts for salaried employees. It is negotiating with ground workers and flight attendants, and it has said it can reopen talks with pilots once it gets concessions from the other groups.

Besides Detroit and Minneapolis, Northwest has hubs in Memphis, Tenn.; Tokyo; and Amsterdam.

The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees airlines maintenance and repair, has nearly doubled the number of inspectors watching Northwest, from 46 to 80, agency spokesman Greg Martin said.

"In terms of our surveillance and oversight, we've not seen anything unusual," Martin said. "The maintenance work is being done deliberately and carefully to Northwest procedures and FAA standards."

Martin said it may take the replacement mechanics longer to do the work during the transition period.

The union for the FAA inspectors said there were only 21 maintenance inspectors assigned to Northwest, including 10 who were pulled away from watching other airlines.

The rest are inspectors who cover other things, such as dispatching or cabin safety, said Linda Goodrich, vice president of the Professional Airways Systems Specialists union.

Also Monday, Standard & Poors warned that it might downgrade Northwest's debt because of the strike.

Credit analyst Philip Baggaley said Northwest is being hurt more by high oil prices than by strike costs.

He said Northwest has a lot to do before the bankruptcy law changes in October. Those changes will be more restrictive for companies seeking Chapter 11 protection, providing struggling companies an incentive to file before the changes take effect.

Shares of Northwest Airlines Corp. rose 28 cents, or 5.2 percent, to close at $5.66 on the Nasdaq Stock Market on the first day of trading since the strike began. Its shares have traded between $3.77 and $11.83 over the past 52 weeks.

Source: Charleston Gazette, The

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