Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Hidden Article

This posting has been hidden because it breaches the Indymedia UK (IMC UK) Editorial Guidelines.

IMC UK is an interactive site offering inclusive participation. All postings to the open publishing newswire are the responsibility of the individual authors and not of IMC UK. Although IMC UK volunteers attempt to ensure accuracy of the newswire, they take no responsibility legal or otherwise for the contents of the open publishing site. Mention of external web sites or services is for information purposes only and constitutes neither an endorsement nor a recommendation.

NWA: Cancellations a problem this weekend

Mr Roger K. Olsson | 28.07.2007 16:31 | Analysis | Other Press | Technology | London | World

Giuen Media



Saturday, July 28, 2007


Jul. 28, 2007 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) --
Northwest Airlines said Friday afternoon that it was canceling 7 percent of its flights for the day, and it warned passengers that cancellations would continue to be a problem over the weekend.

The airline didn't say how many flights will be dropped from the schedule today and Sunday.

The late-month spike in cancellations marks a repeat of the troubles Northwest experienced in June, when the carrier had major disruptions to its flights for a week. The airline cited three factors last month for cancellations -- a high number of sick pilots, weather and air traffic congestion.

Northwest said then that it would trim its schedule to avoid a repeat of the problems.

But the airline now finds itself headed into another summer travel weekend with cancellations running well ahead of the 1 to 2 percent that is normal on good-weather days.

By 7:30 p.m. Friday, FlightStats, a private company, was reporting that Northwest had canceled 114 of its 1,458 flights for the day, or 7.8 percent.

Opposing viewpoints

As was the case in June, management and pilots have different views concerning the causes for the latest service letdown.

In a letter to employees Friday, CEO Doug Steenland said the airline saw a 'significant spike' Friday morning in 'pilot absenteeism,' forcing the carrier to cancel flights. The sick calls from pilots affected 'narrow body' planes, such as DC9s and A319s and A320s, which are used on domestic routes, Steenland wrote.

Monty Montgomery, a spokesman for the Northwest branch of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), responded that the pilots are not at fault.

'There is absolutely no effort by the pilots to disrupt the flying schedule of Northwest,' Montgomery said.

'Unfortunately, there is not sufficient pilot staffing,' he added.

'Our pilots have been working at their personal and contractual limits for months now, and it is starting to take its toll on them personally and on the schedule overall.'

Last year, Northwest pilots agreed to a new contract while the airline was in bankruptcy. The contract increased maximum flight hours for pilots from 80 to 90 hours per month.

In June, the airline canceled 11.9 percent of its schedule from June 22-28, amounting to roughly 1,200 flights. The major disruptions began just a week after pilots union leaders warned that the airline had too few pilots to fly a full schedule.

Northwest said Friday that it completed 97.9 percent of its flights from July 1-25.

But union leaders and industry observers had predicted that the carrier could encounter problems again in late July and be forced to cancel more flights.

That's because a number of pilots reach their maximum allowed flight hours by the end of the month, so management has a limited supply of pilots to deploy.

In his letter, Steenland acknowledged that the airline has not resolved its cancellation woes.

'The unfortunate reality is that a problem such as this cannot be solved overnight,' Steenland said. 'The steps we are taking -- schedule reductions, new pilot training, changes in pilot bidding patterns and other remedial measures -- take time to implement.'

The airline will cut its domestic flight schedule by 4 percent in August. That's after it eliminated a Detroit-to-Frankfurt, Germany, flight July 18 to free up some pilot crews.

Northwest also is recalling its remaining pilots on furlough, and it plans to hire about 300 pilots over the next 12 months. Management told employees Thursday that training for new pilots would 'start as early as the beginning of October.'

The union's Montgomery said that he has concerns about the company's ability to fly a full schedule through the end of the month. He also emphasized that pilot leaders told Northwest management on several occasions in recent months that more pilots were needed for the heavy summer season.

By not expanding the pilot workforce ahead of summer, Montgomery said the airline is seeing more instances of sick pilots who have 'cumulative fatigue.'

John Prater, ALPA International president, said in an interview this month that Northwest management should sit down with pilot leaders and find ways to meet the pilots' financial and work rule needs. Prater argued that a healthier labor-management relationship would be good for the airline.

Another tack

'Northwest would do better by addressing the bankruptcy-era contract and improving that contract for the current pilots,' he said, rather than 'trying to make the financial case of low wages as being some type of elixir to provide long-term profits.'

In an update to pilots Friday, union leaders said that three work rule changes that management agreed to weeks ago have had a 'positive impact,' but that executives must be willing to negotiate a 'much larger overall solution.'

Northwest's financial condition will be analyzed Tuesday, when it reports results for the second quarter.

Julius Maldutis, president of New York-based Aviation Dynamics, said Northwest executives likely will face an array of questions from Wall Street analysts and reporters about the carrier's operations.

'These cancellations are obviously going to have a significant impact, especially as business travelers cannot tolerate and accept cancellations,' Maldutis said.

Northwest has been preemptively canceling many flights affected by the pilot staffing issue. The airline notifies customers of cancellations and flight rebookings by phone, e-mail or mobile devices. Passengers can check the status of flights at www.nwa.com, or by calling 1-800-441-1818.

'Customers whose weekend flights have been affected have most likely been contacted by Northwest regarding alternative travel plans,' spokesman Roman Blahoski said.

Liz Fedor --612-673-7709 -- lfedor@startribune.com


Newstex ID: KRTB-0281-18488047


Delivered by Newstex LLC
via theFinancials.com

Mr Roger K. Olsson
- e-mail: rogerkolsson@yahoo.co.uk
- Homepage: http://www.adbrite.com/mb/commerce/purchase_form.php?opid=377909&afsid=1

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech