Company Watch - Northwest Airlines.

For more company news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Aug 7, 2006

US Senate is expected to vote this week on pension reform legislation passed last week by the House that would provide relief for US airlines struggling to fund defined benefit retirement plans. The House-passed bill would give carriers that have frozen their pension plans, namely bankrupt Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines, 17 years to meet funding responsibilities, or 10 more years than the seven-year requirement imposed by the legislation on other industries. Other airlines would get 10 years--three extra years--to fund plans. Aug 1, 2006

Flight attendants give Northwest 15 days notice. Northwest Airlines flight attendants continued to rattle their sabers following Monday's rejection of the latest labor agreement, announcing their "intent to exercise their right to strike" on the evening of Aug. 15. Aug 3, 2006

Northwest cabin staff reject tentative agreement, CHAOS ensues. Northwest Airlines flight attendants set up a showdown with the bankrupt carrier late yesterday, rejecting the tentative agreement reached two weeks ago in "around-the-clock negotiations" between NWA and the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA by a vote of 3,266 to 2,637. Aug 1, 2006

Northwest Airlines and its striking mechanics, represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn., will head back to the negotiating table, the carrier said Friday. The mechanics have been on strike since August 2005 and rejected a January contract proposal that would have provided severance and certain benefits. The meeting reportedly will take place in August. "We have been asked by AMFA to conduct a bargaining session with their negotiating committee and we will do so consistent with our obligations under the Railway Labor Act," a NWA spokesperson said, adding that "any potential settlement would have no impact on our current mechanic workforce" and that "the needed aircraft maintenance employee labor cost savings have been achieved." Jul 31, 2006

Northwest Airlines is seeking to lower its annual fleet ownership costs by $400 million as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring. Senior VP-Finance Dave Davis told reporters in a conference call that the airline faces greater challenges than other bankrupt carriers regarding its aircraft costs because "pre-filing [for bankruptcy] we predominately owned our fleet" whereas others have a larger percentage of leased aircraft. "There's a wide disparity among airlines in how fleets are owned and operated," he explained. Davis said NWA is attempting to negotiate new terms for interest payments on aircraft it owns and may seek alternate ways of financing aircraft to reduce its outright ownership burden. Jul 31, 2006