Washington Post coverage of NW Strike:

Northwest Hires Replacements as Strike Goes On

By Joshua Freed
Associated Press
Monday, August 22, 2005; Page A06

MINNEAPOLIS -- Northwest Airlines Corp. got off to a smooth start by keeping its planes flying when mechanics struck. But the real test for the company and its replacement mechanics arrives with a far busier weekday schedule.

The strike began on Saturday, generally the lightest flying day of the week. Northwest averages 1,215 flights on Saturdays -- but that increases to 1,381 on Sunday and 1,473 on weekdays, company spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said yesterday.

Striking Northwest Airlines mechanics union members picket at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Saturday, Aug. 20, 2005, in Minneapolis after mechanics walked off the job Friday evening, Aug. 19, 2005. (AP Photo/Jim Mone) (Jim Mone - AP)

Struggling Airlines
The airline industry, facing rising fuel prices, sharp competition, an inflexible market for ticket prices and the lingering fear of terrorism, is in the midst of its most critical period in decades.

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The airline will find that maintaining its schedule will be tougher as the work week begins, said Scott Hamilton, an airline consultant for Leeham Co. in Sammamish, Wash. "Sooner or later if the replacement mechanics can't keep on top of it, it's going to start causing cancellations," he said.

Northwest's unionized mechanics, cleaners and custodians walked off the job Saturday morning after refusing to take pay cuts and layoffs that would have reduced their ranks almost by half. No new talks have been scheduled.

Terry Trippler of Cheapseats.com, a ticket fare Web site, said Northwest's schedule had recovered from a work slowdown just before the strike began Saturday morning. Northwest apologized to passengers for delays then, and said it would work to resolve them.

"This weekend has gone much much better than I think [the union] thought it was going to, and maybe a little bit worse than Northwest wanted it to," he said.

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