More cuts on way from merger-bound Northwest
Look for Northwest Airlines to lop off 8.5 to 9.5 percent of its mainline seats during the fourth quarter of 2008. The reason is no surprise: fuel costs.
Doug Steenland, Northwest CEO, who is navigating his carrier toward a planned merger with Delta Air Lines, says: “We are taking prudent actions to reduce our capacity and right-size the airline. This will allow us to match our capacity to customer demand as airfares, by necessity, must increase.”
Northwest is grounding a significant swath of its narrowbody domestic fleet - 14 Boeing 757s, and a slew of aging DC-9s. At the start of 2008, NW flew 94 of the latter. By year's end it says it will loft just 61. The carrier's DC-9-30s, DC-9-40s, and DC-9-50s are among the oldest mainline commercial aircraft still flying passengers in this country. They're not as fuel-efficient as newer craft, such as the A319 and A320 - both of which Northwest also files.
As for how fuel prices factor into the Delta merger, Steenland contends: “As oil was approaching $100 a barrel, we knew this was the right deal with the right partner. Now, with oil above $130 a barrel, the case…is stronger than ever.”
Both Northwest and Delta tout “synergies” as a key reason they believe the merger will work.
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler