Any relief for long-suffering Northwest Airline passengers?
The strategy for beleaguered Northwest Airlines is to hire hundreds of furloughed pilots and reduce its flight schedule, but will that alleviate a barrage of flight cancellations that have become so bad the president of the company is making public apologies?
Probably not. And it’s no quick fix.
That’s the case despite Northwest Airlines and the union representing its pilots reaching a tentative deal that is said may prevent spikes in the airline’s flight cancellations like those seen in late June and late July.
“The pilots union claims that only a fraction of the 385 pilots on furlough are likely to return to Northwest. And those that do will need more than a month of training before they can return to the cockpit,” reports the Detroit News.
Experts are predicting that August will probably be another rough month for Northwest travelers.
Northwest has blamed stormy weather, traffic control issues and high absenteeism among its pilots for schedule problems. The pilots, however, blame the airline for not hiring enough staff for the busy summer travel season.
Northwest Airlines CEO Doug Steenland made the unusual move of apologizing to thousands of passengers inconvenienced this summer by widespread flight cancellations — cancellations that he blamed mostly on increased pilot absenteeism.
In the last weeks of both June and July Northwest was forced to cancel hundreds of flights because it lacked enough pilots to operate them.
In June, Northwest officials blamed the situation on bad weather, particularly in the East, that exhausted many pilots’ quotas of monthly flight hours. But pilots’ union leaders blasted management publicly for failing to heed their warnings earlier this year that management had cut pilot staffing too thin during bankruptcy and was scheduling the carrier too aggressively.
Northwest has regularly been canceling about 9% of its flights, according to the Web site FlightStats.com. Its on-time rate has been running about 82%.
Northwest canceled 12.1% of its flights in a recent four-day period while other major U.S. airlines canceled only 2.9% during the period, according to data from FlightStats.
The Eagan, Minn.-based airline continued to cite “a significant increase” in pilot absenteeism as the biggest cause of cancelled flights.
A spokesman said the vast majority of the cancellations were made well in advance, and that customers had been informed in advance.
Experts say it will take at least until Labor Day or the end of the summer for Northeast to train new pilots and make them operational.
Report by David Wilkening
David
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
In Italy, the Meloni government congratulates itself for its tourism achievements