We don't believe a strike is in the best interests of our customers, employees and the hundreds of communities we serve each day. We believe a strike by our unions would be illegal under bankruptcy law and the Railway Labor Act.

We are reducing the number of employees to operate more efficiently.

It's been a very difficult year for the employees that have been affected. But we are now seeing the benefit of these decisions.

We are continuing to meet with representatives of the pilots union, and we continue to make progress on a new contract.

While the company appreciates Judge Gropper giving the parties additional time to continue to reach consensual agreements, achieving the needed labor costs savings as soon as possible is critical to the success of Northwest Airlines, which is losing $3 million to $4 million dollars per day.

The reduced flying levels make it necessary for Northwest to furlough 900 flight attendants. Based on current schedule projections, we estimate that it will be necessary to furlough an additional 500 flight attendants in January 2006.