Northwest to Pare Its Schedule

Northwest Airlines (NWA Quote) is planning to reduce capacity as part of a bid to limit the number of flights it will have to cancel in the coming weeks.

During June, Northwest's mainline schedule has been hurt by several factors, notably thunderstorms, air traffic control congestion and pilot absenteeism, which has been 80% higher this month than in June 2006. The cumulative impact forced the airline to cancel hundreds of flights during the past week.

To address the situation, Northwest is ending its second Detroit to Frankfurt flight, effective July 18, to free up 757 pilots to fly other routes. In August, the airline will take further actions to reduce its schedule by 90 flying hours a day -- a 3% domestic mainline capacity reduction -- to increase its "reserve" of pilot flying hours. ...