Northwest Airlines announced tonight it would cut 4,900 jobs as the war in Iraq forced it to slash scheduled services by 12 per cent.
"Because the level of flying is being reduced substantially and aircraft are being removed from service, Northwest is forced to reduce its overall staffing level by about 4,900 employees," it said in a statement.
The world's fourth-largest carrier said it would cut payrolls through layfoffs, attrition, voluntary leaves and by leaving open positions unfilled.
A relief package of one to four weeks' pay, health and flight benefits would be offered to affected employees who were unable to take another job within Northwest Airlines, it said.
"Clearly, the last two years have been a difficult and painful period for our employees," Northwest chief executive Richard Anderson said in the statement.
"Due to the weak demand for business travel which emerged in March, 2001, the subsequent impact of the terrorist attacks on the United States in September of that year, and now, armed conflict with Iraq, we have been forced to reduce our workforce by some 17,000 employee positions."
Northwest said it was reducing the number of seats flown by 12 percent and removing from service about 20 aircraft including DC-9s, A320s, 757-200s, DC10-30s, and 747-200s.
AFP