Company Watch - Northwest Airlines.

For more company data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm May 22, 2006

Northwest Airlines flight attendants union expressed anger this week over a May 12 letter from Suzanne Boda, the airline's VP-inflight services, that promised the carrier was through bargaining and warned of potential ramifications if Professional Flight Attendants Assn. members reject the tentative labor agreement reached in March that provides $195 million in annual savings to NWA. After outlining the potential benefits cabin staff might enjoy by ratifying the deal when voting concludes June 6, Boda wrote that the company "does not have the luxury of returning to the bargaining table," and that if the contract is rejected it will "seek to implement terms and conditions" including additional furloughs, assigning 30% of international flying to foreign cabin staff, elimination of "early out" or severance programs and more. She also indicated that a change in union representation would have no effect on NWA's position. May 18, 2006

Northwest Airlines, in a response to Boda posted on the PFAA website, President Gary Meek said the letter constituted "the latest of many incredible attacks on our flight attendants" and was a "blatant scare tactic." He said a "full-scale legal campaign would occur if Northwest took improper actions on abrogating our Collective Bargaining Agreement, if the TA were to be rejected...Be confident that PFAA will not stand by and allow you to break the law by way of a unilateral abrogation." May 18, 2006

Contract hearings start for Northwest, baggage handlers. Northwest Airlines and its baggage handlers still have not reached a contract agreement. Hearings to determine whether the carrier can void the current contract began Monday. May 16, 2006

Northwest Airlines and Farelogix signed a distribution agreement under which users of the Farelogix FLX Platform will gain direct access to NWA's full content. "Our strategy is to offer travel agents and corporate accounts access to our products through the most economical channels, using a variety of distribution technologies," NWA VP-Distribution and E-commerce Al Lenza said. According to Farelogix, the FLX platform "aggregates content from all four major global distribution systems, as well as airline, private and Internet fare sources, while its sophisticated pricing technology enables comparative shopping across sources." Last week, NWA signed a five-year, full-content distribution agreement with Worldspan designating the GDS as a "preferred distribution channel". May 16, 2006

Worldspan and Northwest Airlines signed a five-year, full-content distribution agreement designating the GDS as a "preferred distribution channel." The companies said that "in conjunction with the agreement, Worldspan has developed two new optional products to introduce into the marketplace" but did not define the products. May 15, 2006