jetflier
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2003
- Posts
- 718
This letter was sent out yesterday to all NWA employees,...
June 29, 2007
Dear Co-worker:
As everyone knows, we've had a painful week as we have had to
cancel flights, inconvenience customers, and put an extra burden
on all our co-workers. We are working hard to solve this problem
and we all need to work as a team to make sure this never happens
again. It's important that we understand the facts and the steps
being taken to address the issue.
1. When we first developed our 2007 business plan, we expected to
increase capacity by 3.7 percent year-over-year compared to 2006.
We planned this level of growth to secure jobs, take advantage of
new opportunities created by our successful restructuring, and
increase the profitability of the airline.
2. In the spring of this year, recognizing that summer weather
might be challenging and that this would be the first summer
operating in our post restructuring environment, we took steps to
ensure that we had adequate pilot staffing. Specifically, we
pulled back on some of our planned growth to create additional
pilot reserve hours for the summer months. In fact, we entered
this summer with the highest level of pilot reserves in Northwest's
recent history.
3. Since October 2006, we have been retraining our furloughed
pilots so that they can resume flying and we can grow our pilot
staffing. Our training facilities have been full to capacity and
we have offered every furloughed NWA pilot the opportunity to
return to Northwest.
4. In May, Northwest completed 99.1 percent of its scheduled
flights which put us near the top of all network carriers in
completion factor. This excellent level of operational
performance suggested our plan for the summer was a sound one.
5. Why then has NWA's completion factor in June been so different
from May? Several factors have contributed to the June results.
Among the most important are:
1
- Weather: We had two major East Coast storms in early June and
one in the Midwest that significantly affected our operations and
caused us to use up many pilot hours. This week's storms on the
East Coast and Wednesday's ground stops in Detroit further
impacted our operations and reminded us just how disruptive bad
weather can be during peak travel summer months. Our competitors
were also affected. For example, yesterday, Delta cancelled 200
flights.
- Increasing Congestion: As many of you know, the East Coast is
reaching the saturation point for aircraft operations. Even on
good weather days, we are incurring delays into the large East
Coast cities and this is getting worse by the month. These ATC
delays also use up more pilot hours than expected.
- Absenteeism: Pilot absenteeism increased by 80 percent in June
2007 versus June 2006 and by 40 percent in June 2007 versus May
2007. These absenteeism increases primarily involved a minority
of NWA narrow-body pilots.
The cumulative effect of these factors caused the airline to have
a shortage of pilots for the latter part of June. This left us no
choice but to pre-cancel flights so that we could get the airline
back to normal.
6. Some have suggested that if NWA had started retraining its
furloughed pilots sooner the June problem could have been
avoided. Using the perfect vision of 20 - 20 hindsight, that
clearly would have helped. If our crystal ball had been perfect,
we would have recalled pilots sooner and not expanded the airline
as much in 2007. However, we entered the summer with reasonable
expectations that the schedule would be operated reliably, for
the following reasons:
- Pilot reserve hours for the summer months were at an all time
high;
- The May 2007 operation realized a 99.1 percent completion
factor; and
- The June 2007 completion factor would have been in line with
that of prior months if pilot absenteeism had remained at the
same level as June 2006. The June 2007 pilot staffing plan did
not anticipate the increase in absenteeism over June, 2006.
7. So what are we doing to address this issue? Here are some of
the steps we are taking:
- Effective July 18, we will cancel our Detroit - Frankfurt
second frequency which is flown with 757 aircraft, thereby
creating additional pilot hours.
2
- In August we are further reducing the schedule by 90 flying
hours per day (a reduction of about 3 percent of domestic
mainline capacity) to create additional reserves and to reduce
the monthly maximum hours that our pilots will be asked to fly
that month.
- We are continuing our efforts to increase the number of NWA
pilots. Our training facility will remain full. We will look to
get all remaining furloughed pilots back to work and we will
initiate new pilot hiring, if necessary.
- Recognizing that summer thunderstorms and ATC congestion are
inevitable, starting in August, we will also modify the way that
some of our pilot trips are scheduled, especially to and from the
large East Coast cities, so that when bad weather and ATC delays
do occur, the impact on the entire system can be minimized.
- We have also instituted some short-term solutions to mitigate
cancellations. These include relaxed travel restrictions, efforts
to ensure quick re-accommodation of our passengers, and multiple
efforts to contact our customers about the cancellations.
The past week has been a very difficult time for NWA, especially
for all of you who have been dealing directly with our customers,
who are understandably frustrated. I am particularly grateful to
our ground personnel, reservations agents, pilots and flight
attendants who have been working hard every day during this
challenging period. Thank you for your professionalism, hard work
and commitment to meeting our customers' needs.
Please be assured that we are taking every measure to resolve the
problem and return Northwest to normal operations. To accomplish
this, we all must continue the commitment we have shown during
our 20 months of restructuring and remain focused on our shared
goal of making Northwest one of the world's most successful
airlines.
Sincerely,
Doug Steenland
June 29, 2007
Dear Co-worker:
As everyone knows, we've had a painful week as we have had to
cancel flights, inconvenience customers, and put an extra burden
on all our co-workers. We are working hard to solve this problem
and we all need to work as a team to make sure this never happens
again. It's important that we understand the facts and the steps
being taken to address the issue.
1. When we first developed our 2007 business plan, we expected to
increase capacity by 3.7 percent year-over-year compared to 2006.
We planned this level of growth to secure jobs, take advantage of
new opportunities created by our successful restructuring, and
increase the profitability of the airline.
2. In the spring of this year, recognizing that summer weather
might be challenging and that this would be the first summer
operating in our post restructuring environment, we took steps to
ensure that we had adequate pilot staffing. Specifically, we
pulled back on some of our planned growth to create additional
pilot reserve hours for the summer months. In fact, we entered
this summer with the highest level of pilot reserves in Northwest's
recent history.
3. Since October 2006, we have been retraining our furloughed
pilots so that they can resume flying and we can grow our pilot
staffing. Our training facilities have been full to capacity and
we have offered every furloughed NWA pilot the opportunity to
return to Northwest.
4. In May, Northwest completed 99.1 percent of its scheduled
flights which put us near the top of all network carriers in
completion factor. This excellent level of operational
performance suggested our plan for the summer was a sound one.
5. Why then has NWA's completion factor in June been so different
from May? Several factors have contributed to the June results.
Among the most important are:
1
- Weather: We had two major East Coast storms in early June and
one in the Midwest that significantly affected our operations and
caused us to use up many pilot hours. This week's storms on the
East Coast and Wednesday's ground stops in Detroit further
impacted our operations and reminded us just how disruptive bad
weather can be during peak travel summer months. Our competitors
were also affected. For example, yesterday, Delta cancelled 200
flights.
- Increasing Congestion: As many of you know, the East Coast is
reaching the saturation point for aircraft operations. Even on
good weather days, we are incurring delays into the large East
Coast cities and this is getting worse by the month. These ATC
delays also use up more pilot hours than expected.
- Absenteeism: Pilot absenteeism increased by 80 percent in June
2007 versus June 2006 and by 40 percent in June 2007 versus May
2007. These absenteeism increases primarily involved a minority
of NWA narrow-body pilots.
The cumulative effect of these factors caused the airline to have
a shortage of pilots for the latter part of June. This left us no
choice but to pre-cancel flights so that we could get the airline
back to normal.
6. Some have suggested that if NWA had started retraining its
furloughed pilots sooner the June problem could have been
avoided. Using the perfect vision of 20 - 20 hindsight, that
clearly would have helped. If our crystal ball had been perfect,
we would have recalled pilots sooner and not expanded the airline
as much in 2007. However, we entered the summer with reasonable
expectations that the schedule would be operated reliably, for
the following reasons:
- Pilot reserve hours for the summer months were at an all time
high;
- The May 2007 operation realized a 99.1 percent completion
factor; and
- The June 2007 completion factor would have been in line with
that of prior months if pilot absenteeism had remained at the
same level as June 2006. The June 2007 pilot staffing plan did
not anticipate the increase in absenteeism over June, 2006.
7. So what are we doing to address this issue? Here are some of
the steps we are taking:
- Effective July 18, we will cancel our Detroit - Frankfurt
second frequency which is flown with 757 aircraft, thereby
creating additional pilot hours.
2
- In August we are further reducing the schedule by 90 flying
hours per day (a reduction of about 3 percent of domestic
mainline capacity) to create additional reserves and to reduce
the monthly maximum hours that our pilots will be asked to fly
that month.
- We are continuing our efforts to increase the number of NWA
pilots. Our training facility will remain full. We will look to
get all remaining furloughed pilots back to work and we will
initiate new pilot hiring, if necessary.
- Recognizing that summer thunderstorms and ATC congestion are
inevitable, starting in August, we will also modify the way that
some of our pilot trips are scheduled, especially to and from the
large East Coast cities, so that when bad weather and ATC delays
do occur, the impact on the entire system can be minimized.
- We have also instituted some short-term solutions to mitigate
cancellations. These include relaxed travel restrictions, efforts
to ensure quick re-accommodation of our passengers, and multiple
efforts to contact our customers about the cancellations.
The past week has been a very difficult time for NWA, especially
for all of you who have been dealing directly with our customers,
who are understandably frustrated. I am particularly grateful to
our ground personnel, reservations agents, pilots and flight
attendants who have been working hard every day during this
challenging period. Thank you for your professionalism, hard work
and commitment to meeting our customers' needs.
Please be assured that we are taking every measure to resolve the
problem and return Northwest to normal operations. To accomplish
this, we all must continue the commitment we have shown during
our 20 months of restructuring and remain focused on our shared
goal of making Northwest one of the world's most successful
airlines.
Sincerely,
Doug Steenland
