Northwest Tries New Direction

The final step in the post-Sept. 11 restructuring of the U.S. airline industry will occur at the end of this month, when Northwest(NWACQ Quote) emerges from bankruptcy and starts trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Northwest will become the fourth and last of the six legacy airlines to complete a bankruptcy reorganization that includes a new stock issue. In bankruptcy, it shed $2.2 billion in yearly operating costs, including $1.4 billion in labor costs, with $200 million in additional reductions expected by 2008.

The carrier also reduced debt and lease costs by $4.2 billion annually and cut capacity by about 10%.

Northwest shares began trading May 21 on what's known as a "when issued" basis, meaning the stock has been authorized but not yet issued. Shares have traded around $25 before being widely disseminated to the public.

The stock has an exchange specialist, meets listing standards and has been certified by the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, at the moment, trading is geared toward institutions or large brokerage firms due to complicated settlement provisions.

Shares will trade under the "NWA" symbol, just as they did when Northwest was listed on the NYSE from 1941 to 1989, the year the carrier was taken private. It went public again in 1994 and was traded on Nasdaq as "NWAC" until the bankruptcy.