Northwest Airlines Leaves Bankruptcy

After 20 months of living with bankruptcy protection, a reorganized Northwest Airlines is expected to produce a profit of $794 million for 2007 after losing $2.84 billion last year. During the time it existed under the protection of the court, the carrier cut labor spending by  $1.4 billion,  and downsized its fleet by 13%.

“We have successfully repositioned the company as a stronger,globally-focused airline with a great route network, a revitalized fleet, a competitive cost structure and a recapitalized balance sheet,” says Doug Steenland, airline president and CEO. 

He says that the airline will continue to spend $6 billion on fleet renewal. Northwest has replaced its DC10 planes on its European and Asian routes. It now uses Airbus A330s on those lanes and will be placing new Boeing 787s into service in the third quarter of next year.  A bit over 40% of Northwest capacity in 2006 was on its international routes.