Northwest Airlines said that it has reached a tentative agreement with its flight attendants union that allows it to realize the labor cost savings needed from that employee group. “Over the past week, we have been in virtually around the clock negotiations with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA),” said Doug Steenland, president and chief executive officer.

“We are pleased to have reached this tentative agreement that achieves the required $195 million in annual cost savings from our flight attendants.”

On July 6, the National Mediation Board announced that Northwest flight attendants voted to have the AFA-CWA replace the Professional Flight Attendants Association (PFAA) as the flight attendants’ bargaining organization.

Northwest expects that flight attendants will complete their contract ratification vote on this tentative agreement on July 31.

Northwest has ratified agreements on permanent wage and benefit reductions with the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), Aircraft Technical Support Association (ATSA), the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), and the Northwest Airlines Meteorologists Association (NAMA). Two rounds of salaried and management employee pay and benefit cuts have also been instituted and the needed aircraft maintenance employee labor cost savings have been achieved.

Since beginning its restructuring process in September of last year, Northwest has made steady progress on its plan to realize $2.5 billion in annual business improvements in order to return the company to profitability on a sustained basis.

Northwest Airlines is the world’s fifth largest airline with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and approximately 1,200 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam, an airline alliance that offers customers one of the world’s most extensive global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 900 cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents.
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