Merger in the Air

  • CEO: Northwest may go bankrupt without labor concessions
    Northwest Airlines Corp. shares sank further on Tuesday, as its chief executive said the airline must get labor concessions by the end of 2005 or face the possibility of bankruptcy.July 5, 2005
  • A bankrupt Northwest: What could travelers expect?
    Officials at Eagan-based Northwest Airlines don't often use the word "bankruptcy" in public. But in recent weeks a number of signs have raised the possibility of a Chapter 11 filing. What could be in store for the traveling public if Northwest does file for bankruptcy?June 21, 2005
  • Northwest looks to Congress to solve pension woes
    The financial troubles at Northwest Airlines run deep, but company officials say there's only one problem the airline can't fix on its own: the huge payments owed to its pension plans. Right now Northwest has less than 60 percent of the money it needs to make the retirement payments that are promised to present and future retirees. The airline -- and at least some workers -- say only Congress can help avert a pension catastrophe.June 10, 2005
  • Mediation board orders NWA to keep negotiating with mechanics
    Northwest Airlines Corp. must keep negotiating with mechanics, mediators said on Thursday, handing the union a victory in its efforts to resist pay cuts.June 9, 2005
  • Bankruptcy question a cloud over Northwest
    Wall street analysts say Northwest Airlines needs worker concessions to avoid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The debate among investors is whether the airline will be able to win worker cutbacks in time to avoid bankruptcy.June 3, 2005
  • Is a strike in Northwest's future?
    Northwest Airlines wants the National Mediation Board to declare an impasse in contract talks with its mechanics union. If the board agrees, and the sides don't come up with a contract within 30 days, mechanics could walk off the job. All Things Considered host Tom Crann talked to Joel Denney follows the tumultuous airline industry for Piper-Jaffray.May 26, 2005
  • NWA mechanics in Twin Cities could see ranks cut 30 percent by year-end
    The latest casualties of the faltering U.S. airline industry are 130 Northwest Airlines mechanics in the Twin Cities. By year's end, Northwest says 800 more mechanics jobs at the airport may be gone as well.March 17, 2005
  • For airlines, online trade puts the "ouch" in voucher
    Eagan-based Northwest and other carriers have lost a combined $30 billion in the past three years. Amid that sea of red ink, the airlines continue to face a small but stubborn trickle, brought on by the Internet age -- the black market trade in airline ticket vouchers.March 10, 2005
  • To Northwest Airlines, aging DC-9s look better every day
    Analysts say Northwest's 1995 decision to gut and refurbish DC-9s rather than replace them is helping it weather high fuel prices and competition from low-cost carriers better than most major carriers.February 21, 2005
  • Red tails bleeding red ink
    Northwest Airlines Corp. reported a bigger-than-expected fourth-quarter loss of $420 million on Wednesday, and blamed high fuel costs and fare cuts by competitors.January 19, 2005
  • Senators on airport expansion: Slow down and open up
    State lawmakers turned a critical eye Tuesday on a major plan to expand Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Members of the Senate Transportation Committee heard from some who say the plan has moved too fast and too quietly.January 12, 2005
  • Northwest matches Delta's fare war... reluctantly
    Delta Airlines has set off what one analyst calls "the most dramatic round of airfare cuts in more than a decade." Eagan-based Northwest Airlines has criticized the move, but was among the first to cut fares too.January 5, 2005
  • Northwest Airlines, pilots reach deal on wage concessions
    Negotiators for Eagan-based Northwest Airlines and its pilots have reached a tentative deal to save the airline $300 million in annual labor costs. Industry watchers had come to see a deal with the pilots as critical to Northwest's financial health. Still, the potential savings are only the first step down the path to long-term profitability for the carrier.October 14, 2004
  • A look at Richard Anderson's decision to leave NWA
    The departure of Northwest Airlines CEO Richard Anderson caught many by surprise. He is taking a top job at UnitedHealth Group after three tough years in the airline industry; a period that has seen the departures of most major airline CEOs.October 6, 2004
  • Pawlenty, Northwest Airlines unveil airport expansion plan
    Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Eagan-based Northwest Airlines Tuesday unveiled their vision for a much larger Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. The plan shows an airport ready to handle 60 percent more travelers by the year 2020. Officials with the state and the airline say they intend to make the Twin Cities the dominant air travel hub in the Midwest.September 21, 2004
Merger in the Air photo by Michael Carter

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