no, I'm not especially, but apparently SY was in far worse shape than they let on for some time, well before 9/11, yet they went and bought/leased a bunch of new 737s even after (according to the article) they lost a DC-10 by defaulting on the lease. it seems to me that no effort was made by SY management to ensure that their obligations to their employees were met, yet they committed to these new planes when they had a perfectly serviceable fleet of older 727s that while they are more expensive to operate probably cost them a lot less to lease/buy than $50-million 737s.

it just seems that they tried to grow too fast and that their priorities were misplaced. and no I don't work for NW.