Northwest Airlines said yesterday it will close a 50-person reservations center in Honolulu in September as part of a company-wide cost-cutting effort. The airline announced in May that 150 Honolulu-based pilots' jobs would be lost when it stops flying DC-10 jets in October. Now it has increased that number to 180. Northwest continues
Honolulu cutsStaff and wire reports
The Minnesota-based airline, saying its bottom line has been hurt by soft business travel in the weak U.S. economy and continuing high fuel costs, said it expects to eliminate 1,500 positions systemwide, including management jobs. Many of the positions will be lost through normal attrition, such as retirement, and won't be filled but there will be about 500 layoffs nationwide, including 130 management people, Northwest said.
The airline said it will cut its services including ending flights between Osaka, Japan, and Seattle, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles and Manila. It will also suspend nonstop Detroit-Rome service through the winter.
Northwest, which reported a second-quarter loss of $55 million compared to a profit of $115 million in the year-earlier quarter, said it estimates that its cuts in operations will add $135 million in income this year.