Northwest lifts off
again as machinist
strike looms

From staff and wire reports

MINNEAPOLIS -- A Northwest Airlines Corp. cargo plane took to the skies today, the company's first flight since a 15-day pilots' strike ended.

Hawaii flights start Wednesday Northwest, the fourth-largest U.S. airline, said it will have its Honolulu flight crews in place tomorrow and on Wednesday will run its first three Honolulu-mainland DC-10 flights. It also plans to run a Honolulu-Osaka flight Wednesday. On Thursday, Northwest said, it will run all five of its Honolulu-mainland flights. By Monday it should be operating its full schedule, which includes four daily Honolulu-Japan flights, the airline said.

The Tokyo-bound freighter departed at 8:40 a.m. from the Twin Cities airport in Minneapolis-St. Paul hauling 30,000 pounds of company supplies needed to bring the airline back to full operations.

Passenger service remained grounded, but some routes were expected to resume by Wednesday with full service by early next week, company officials said.

Meanwhile, another labor dispute looms at Northwest.

The 27,000-member Machinists union has overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement with Northwest and wants federal mediators to start a 30-day countdown to a possible strike.

"They (the pilots) did better than the original offer and that indicates that we can do better too," said Vince Bazzachini, president of the International Association of Machinists Local 1833. "But how much better, that remains to be seen."

"The pilots contract was the hardest contract to get done," said Goldman, Sachs & Co. analyst Glenn Engel.

"I don't think the other unions will strike, but it doesn't mean they won't threaten a strike to wring out as much as they can from the company."

On Saturday, the 6,200-member Air Line Pilots Association ratified a new four-year contract that includes a 12 percent raise over the life of the contract, job protections, stock options and profit-sharing.

The new four-year pilots contract will cost Northwest about $720 million, or an average of $180 million a year, Engel estimated. All told, the pilots walkout cost the airline more than $400 million in lost ticket sales and increased costs, according to analysts' estimates.

Northwest expects the cost of the strike and its aftermath to result in losses for the third and fourth quarters as well as the full year. It will mark the airline's first quarterly and annual loss since 1993.

The 31,000 Northwest employees laid off during the strike were told Saturday to get ready to come back to work.

Northwest flight attendant Glinda Edmondson said she couldn't wait to get back to flying.

"I have no harsh feelings. It's part of the corporate world. You have to fight for your rights and the pilots did just that," she said. "I don't blame anyone . . . but people will be complaining. I think there will be a lot of hate there."

To appease customers, Northwest is offering bonus frequent-flier miles through the end of October. First- and business-class passengers will receive triple miles; coach passengers will receive double.

On Wall Street today, Northwest Airlines' shares jumped $2.38 to $30.25 on the Nasdaq stock market. The stock has fallen 37 percent this year.