Northwest Air Seeks More Savings

The airline says it now needs $1.1 billion in annual cost savings from labor.
By Ross Snel ,

Northwest Airlines

(NWAC)

says its workers need to sacrifice even more, given bruising industry conditions.

In a filing with the

Securities and Exchange Commission

, the airline said it now wants a total of $1.1 billion in annual labor-cost savings, up from its earlier target of $950 million. Northwest cited record-high fuel costs, pressure on revenue from the industry's recent fare-restructuring and labor-cost reductions at large competitors like

United Airlines

, a unit of

UAL

(UALAQ.OB)

.

The new target includes $300 million in annual savings from pilots and management employees that went into effect in December.

In addition, Northwest said it will ask its unions to agree to freeze their defined-benefit pension programs. Northwest is proposing to replace them with a new defined-contribution pension program.

Northwest shares were off 5 cents, or 0.7%, at $6.69.

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