By Kathy Fieweger CHICAGO, June 6 (Reuters) - Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWAC), the No. 4 U.S. carrier, may delay delivery of some narrow-body Boeing 757, Airbus A319 and A320 jetliners on schedule for 2003 but take larger planes as planned, the company said. In a monthly column to employees in May, Chief Executive Richard Anderson said despite the potential narrow-body delays from Boeing and Airbus, the two largest commercial airplane manufacturers, the plan to take new Airbus A330s to fly its transatlantic routes is on track. Northwest reported a first-quarter net loss of $171 million. Its shares were down $1.00 or 6.5 percent to $13.94 in New York Stock Exchange trading Thursday. The stock is off 9 percent since the beginning of the year but has outperformed the American Stock Exchange Airline Index (XAL) by four percent. All 38 mainline jets, both narrow- and wide-body, and 23 regional jets to be delivered in 2002 are still on track, said spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch. STATUS QUO FOR 2002 "Despite our concerns about financial performance and the world economy, Northwest remains committed to its fleet plan because the new aircraft improve our financials," Anderson said in the newsletter. "We took delivery of 12 new aircraft in the first quarter and we will take delivery of 61 new aircraft for the entire year." According to the Boeing Co. (BA) commercial airplane Web site, Northwest, based in Eagan, Minnesota, has 17 unfilled orders for 757s, including 16 757-300s. As part of previously announced plans, Northwest will retire all DC-10-40s by early September and all of its 727s next year. Anderson said some of those 757-300s will come on board starting in July as part of the plan to replace the airline's remaining 17 DC-10-40s. Airbus is 80-percent owned by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. NV (EAD) (EAD) ,with the remaining 20 percent held by British aerospace and defense industries group BAE Systems Plc (BA). A HOLE IN THE BUCKET In a separate June newsletter, Anderson warned employees that business travel is still down and those who are flying are finding ways to book cheap fares. "The restrictions might include an advanced purchase of a Saturday night stay," he said. "That is not good for our business." He encouraged workers to stop what he called "revenue leakage," costing the airline millions a year. Anderson cited waiving fees when customers change tickets, accepting expired vouchers and not lifting paper tickets at the airport. "Given our losses, we must do everything possible to prevent revenue leakage." ©2002 Reuters Limited.