Northwest Airlines (NASDAQ:NWAC) today announced that it will close its Detroit area reservations center located in Livonia, Mich. in early December because of decreased call volumes and changes in consumer purchasing habits.

The carrier will handle customer calls through its five remaining U.S. call centers.

The 570 contract employees at the Detroit reservations center will be eligible to transfer to one of the carrier`s reservations centers in Baltimore, Chisholm, Minn., Minneapolis, Seattle and Tampa, Fla. As a result of this closure, approximately 11 management positions will be eliminated.

In addition, Northwest will close its City Ticket Office at Livonia, Mich.

“In today`s challenging environment, Northwest Airlines must look at every possible way to reduce costs, while at the same time, continue to provide its traditional level of customer service.”

“With three of our six call centers located in the Eastern time zone, the closure of the Detroit facility offered the greatest one-time cost savings,” said Tim Griffin, executive vice president of marketing and distribution.

“The closure was also made necessary by a call volume reduction of 10 percent per year during the past several years and, as importantly, by the changing methods our customers are using to make airline ticket purchases,” Griffin added.

The company will work with state and local government officials to offer any assistance possible to those employees choosing not to relocate to other company reservations facilities.

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.

For more information pertaining to Northwest, media inquiries can be directed to Northwest Media Relations at (612) 726-2331 or to Northwest`s Web site at www.nwa.com .

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