Northwest Airlines today announced that it will close all of its remaining
U.S. city ticket offices in late March. The 25 offices in 16 cities that are closing are located at Anchorage,
Alaska, Atlanta, Detroit, Fargo, N.D., Grand Rapids, Mich., Honolulu, Los
Angeles, Memphis, Tenn., Minneapolis, New York City, Palo Alto, Calif.,
Phoenix, Rochester, Minn., St. Paul, Minn., Seattle, and Washington.
The 76 contract employees, who staff the offices, will be eligible to
transfer to one of the carrier’s five reservations centers located at
Baltimore, Chisholm, Minn., Minneapolis, Seattle, and Tampa, Fla.

“The economic environment remains difficult for all major airlines,
including Northwest, and as such, we must continue to find ways to reduce
operating costs while still providing the service our customers expect,”
said Tim Griffin, executive vice president of marketing and distribution.

“The decision to close these offices was a difficult one. During the past
several years, revenue from the city ticket offices has declined and is
projected to continue to do so. These declines have occurred as the
popularity of other ticket sales channels have grown. After close
examination, we determined that the city ticket offices were no longer
cost-effective,” Griffin said.

Northwest Airlines is the world’s fourth largest airline with hubs at
Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and
approximately 1,500 daily departures. With its travel partners, Northwest
serves nearly 750 cities in almost 120 countries on six continents.
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