Pilot Union Says Not Labor Issues Involved -- This Time

Northwest Airlines just can't seem to catch a break. After the month of June saw the cancellation of at least 1,000 flights, that dark cloud seems to have descended again.

By 8:30 am Friday, NWA had cancelled seven of 18 scheduled flights from the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. System wide, 22 of 231 scheduled departures were cancelled or 9.5 percent, according to the Detroit News.

The Detroit cancellations are probably due to a storm, according to an NWA pilot's union spokesperson, and not because of any labor issues.

As ANN reported, flight cancellations at NWA far exceed those of other major US airlines, according to CNNMoney. In just one day in June, the carrier cancelled 173 flights -- that's about 12 percent of its total 1,148 scheduled flights for that day.

That compares to an average of only 2.1 percent of overall cancellations at the other major airlines, including American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines, US Airways, Southwest Airlines, and JetBlue.

The Air Line Pilots Association says the problem is due to management changing work rules that push pilots past reasonable limits and delays that eat into FAA-mandated allowed flight hours thus causing a pilot shortage.

Air Line Pilots Association spokesperson Monty Montgomery, who is also a Northwest pilot, told the Detroit News the heavy storms that came through Detroit Thursday afternoon likely caused the cancellations.

The carrier said in June plans were in the works to fix the problem, like making sure flights are cancelled far enough in advance to facilitate appropriate rebooking and tightening up its flight capacity and ensuring crew shortages didn't disrupt schedules.

More than 30,000 homes in Metro Detroit were still without power Monday morning as a result of those storms.

NWA said it is attempting to rebook affected passengers on other flights.

FMI: www.nwa.com, www.metroairport.com, www.alpa.org