Northwest likely to recall all furloughed pilots
By Bloomberg News, 11/08/2006
DALLAS -- Northwest Airlines Corp. will likely offer jobs to all 700 of its furloughed pilots to replace retirees and to staff new flights as the carrier emerges from bankruptcy.
Northwest needs to fill 75 pilot positions before the end of the year and 150 more in 2007, the company said in a statement. Because some pilots have rejected the company's offer so far, all 700 should get a chance to return by the end of next year, according to the Northwest chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association.
The need for pilots reflects the Eagan, Minn., airline's progress toward emerging from Chapter 11 protection by mid-2007.
"We have been recalling pilots for the past three months to meet our needs," said Dean Breest, a spokesman for the fifth-largest US carrier, in the statement. "Modest operational growth and pilot attrition" have prompted the recalls, he said.
Northwest has purchased 72 regional jets and ordered 18 Boeing 787s for delivery starting in 2008 in anticipation of increased demand. Through the first 10 months of this year, the carrier shrank its fleet and reduced flight capacity by 8.9 percent.
It filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2005.
Fewer than half the pilots who've been offered jobs are accepting invitations to return, said union spokesman Wade Blaufuss in an interview. In one case, Northwest sent out 140 recall notices and got 25 pilots to come back, the union said. Some are choosing to keep their recall rights while postponing a decision for three months, he said.
Tim Campbell, Northwest's vice president of flight operations, told pilots in an Oct. 18 letter that, given current acceptance rates, the carrier expects to make offers to all furloughed pilots. It has already made 425 recall offers.
The airline continues to cancel some flights operated with DC-9 aircraft because of its pilot shortage, Blaufuss said.
The union represents 5,100 Northwest pilots.