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Category: Northwest News
Date: 07 Jan 2006
Time: 12:23:10 -0500
Remote Name: 66.27.196.95
Pilots union slams Northwest plan to form regional carrier By Kyle Peterson, Reuters Northwest Airlines on Thursday detailed plans for a new regional carrier, further outraging its pilots and other workers. The No. 4 U.S. carrier, which filed for bankruptcy protection in September, said the new airline would fly 70- to 100-seat planes to link midsize markets such as Albuquerque and El Paso to hubs in Minneapolis and Detroit. The Air Line Pilots Association said the proposal encroaches on the jobs of Northwest pilots, who have the right under their contract to fly all aircraft with 70 seats or more. "Northwest is risking labor peace with its pilots," the union said in the document filed in bankruptcy court. Northwest detailed plans for the new airline in a company newsletter, although Chief Executive Doug Steenland first told creditors of the idea in October. He said the carrier's mainline fleet consists of planes that are the wrong size for its core markets. "We have an immediate need for aircraft of this size," Steenland said in the newsletter. "Northwest has more of these small-to-medium-sized markets than any other." The airline would be operational by 2007 and operate an estimated 105 aircraft by 2010. The carrier's fleet would consist of Embraer and Bombardier regional jets, flying in markets now served by planes that are too small or too large. Northwest said that about 100 of its domestic markets are well-suited to 70- to 100-seat aircraft. The airline has been battered along with other major carriers by soaring fuel costs, weak revenue and low-fare competition, and is struggling to trim costs by $2.5 billion, including about a $1.4 billion cut in labor costs. Northwest has said it would renew an earlier request that a judge let it scrap the contracts with workers that have not yielded the required savings by Jan. 17. A hearing on the motion is set for that day. Its flight attendants and ground workers' unions each asserted that they have the right to strike if the court allows Northwest to void the contracts. "We do not believe that a work stoppage would be in the best interest of the airline, its employees, our customers or the communities we serve," Northwest said in a statement. The carrier added that it does not believe the workers can legally strike in response to court permission to void the contracts. The airline's mechanics went on a strike in August after failing to reach a contract, but Northwest continued to fly using replacements and outside vendors. Members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association last week rejected a settlement offer that would have ended the strike. Delta Air Lines, which filed for bankruptcy on the same day as Northwest, faced a similar strike threat from its pilots, but the two sides temporarily resolved their differences with an interim wage cut agreement last month.