Northwest Airlines Reaches Tentative Agreement With Pilots

EAGAN, Minn., March 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northwest Airlines(OTC: NWACQ) today announced that it has reached a tentative agreement on anew contract with its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association(ALPA).

The agreement, which is subject to approval by the union's master executive council and by Northwest's ALPA-represented employees, includes$358 million in labor and benefit cost savings toward the airline's requirement to reduce its annual labor costs by $1.4 billion.

Northwest said that it was pleased to reach the tentative agreement with ALPA.

Currently, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which represents Northwest's ground employees, is presenting the company's contract settlement proposal to its members for ratification. On March 1, the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA) and Northwest announced that the parties had reached a tentative agreement on anew contract.

To date, permanent wage and benefit reduction agreements have been ratified by Northwest employees represented by the Aircraft Technical Support Association (ATSA), the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), and the Northwest Airlines Meteorologists Association (NAMA). In addition, two rounds of salaried and management employee pay and benefit cuts have been implemented and the needed aircraft maintenance employee labor cost savings have been achieved.

Northwest remains focused on its plan to realize $2.5 billion in annual business improvements in order to return the company to profitability on a sustained basis. The restructuring plan is centered on three goals: resizing and optimization of the airline's fleet to better serve Northwest's markets; realizing competitive labor and non-labor costs; and restructuring and recapitalization of the airline's balance sheet.

Northwest Airlines is the world's fifth largest airline with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and approximately 1,200 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam, an airline alliance that offers customers one of the world's most extensive global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 900 cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents.

SOURCE Northwest Airlines

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