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| Low-cost airlines are outsourcing maintenance jobs to cut costs wherever possible. CNN's Lisa Sylvester reports (August 23) |
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NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Air carrier Northwest Airlines announced Friday that flight delays and cancellations and at normal levels despite the recent labor strike by company mechanics.
"Performance has returned into the normal spectrum and we're comfortable where we sit right now," Andy Roberts, executive vice president of operations for Northwest, said in a media conference call Friday.
Analyzing company data that stretched back to mid-July, Northwest reported that the number of completed flights, the number of flights that arrived on time fell slightly on the eve of the Aug. 20 strike. At that time, only 91.6 percent of its 1,600 daily flights completed their trips.
Roberts said that just before the strike started on 48.2 percent of Northwest's flights reported on-time arrival, compared to the company's normal 75 percent range.
The number of aircraft out of service, which reached as high as 57 planes, spiked at that time, but Roberts noted that those figures had settled near 17 as of Friday afternoon.
Web site JoeSentMe.com, a business travel Web site which has been tracking Northwest flights during the strike, reported that 55 percent of the carrier's daily flights were arriving on time with an average delay time of 50.3 minutes. The site also said that on average, 2.6 percent of Northwest's daily flights have been cancelled since the strike started.
4,400 mechanics for the air carrier went on strike last Saturday after the representative Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) and Northwest were unable to come to an agreement over costs cuts. Management had said it needs $176 million in labor cost savings from the union that would include job cuts , as part of a target of $1.1 billion savings plan.
The union said it made an offer that would have saved the airline $176 million it sought, but without costing members their jobs.
Upon announcement of the strike, Northwest has relied on temporary workers, management staff and outside contractors to handle mechanical issues in their fleet.
When asked if Northwest would hire the temporary workers to replace union mechanics, Roberts said the Eagan, Minn.,-based airline was still discussing the issue.
"We certainly are discussing internally what our going forward strategy will be," he said. "We are not close to making a decision about hiring perm replacements – we don't have a timeline to do that."
In comments shortly before the start of the strike,Steve MacFarlane, the AMFA's assistant national director predicted the air carrier's plan would fail.
"As time progresses, it'll get worse and they'll have more equipment on the ground," he said. "Then problems will start because the replacement workers they hired aren't as skilled as us."
"They won't be able to keep up with the work."
Shares of Northwest Airlines (up $0.07 to $5.27, Research) climbed 1.73 percent in late Friday afternoon trade on the Nasdaq.
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1) What could the Northwest strike mean for labor unions? Click here.
2) Is United ready to take-off from bankruptcy? Click here.
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