Northwest Plans More Fleet Cutbacks
Micheline Maynard, The New York Times, 6/18/2008 (excerpted)
Northwest Airlines said Tuesday that it planned to eliminate more planes from its fleet, including Boeing, Airbus and McDonnell Douglas jets, by the end of December, its second cut in capacity this year.
The airline attributed the reductions, the latest by a major airline, to the record price of jet fuel, which has nearly doubled in the last year.
Northwest will ground 14 Boeing 757 and Airbus jets during the final three months of 2008. It also said that only 61 of its aging DC-9 jets would remain in its fleet by the end of December. It had 94 DC-9s at the beginning of 2008, and 103 a year ago.
Over all, Northwest is reducing its domestic and international flying by up to 9.5 percent, the airline said in the regulatory filing. In its previous round of cuts, announced in April, Northwest said it would reduce flying capacity by about 7 percent this year.
Northwest's chief executive, Douglas M. Steenland, said the airline did not plan to eliminate any cities from its schedule.
“We expect to accomplish this with fewer frequencies,” Mr. Steenland said in an interview, referring to the number of flights the airline operates to a particular city each day.
Some jobs will be cut as a result of the flight reductions, but the airline did not say how many. Northwest said it hoped the reductions would come through buyouts and voluntary retirement programs.
Northwest had already announced plans to reduce its DC-9 jets, but it had not specified whether it would retire them or simply idle them in hopes that traffic would strengthen. But Mr. Steenland said Tuesday that the airline had decided to ground them.
Airlines have been hurt by the rise in the price of jet fuel, which is up 83.6 percent in 12 months, according to the International Air Transport Association. Several carriers, including American, Continental, Delta and United have announced plans to retire planes and eliminate flights.
Mr. Steenland said his airline did not anticipate making more capacity cuts in 2008. But he said, “If things change we'll have to respond. At these fuel prices, you watch every drop.”