Midwest Airlines bookings went down when war started MILWAUKEE (AP) =97 Midwest Airlines says its travel bookings dropped about= =20 10% during the first week after war broke out in Iraq. But "once this=20 conflict is over, I think we are going to see a little bit of a pop in the= =20 economy," Timothy Hoeksema, the firm's president and chief executive=20 officer, said in an interview Monday with Milwaukee Journal Sentinel=20 editors and reporters. Profits will return, but not like before, he said. "I don't think we will=20 ever see the type of yields that we had at one time," Hoeksema said. The=20 airline is well into its plan to furlough about 450 employees, roughly 13%= =20 of its work force, and it has also cut routes and the frequency of flights.= =20 "Beginning this month, and in May and June, we will see some pretty=20 significant savings," Hoeksema said. Midwest has put a second Boeing 717=20 into service, as the airline stays on track with a plan to acquire 25 of=20 the new jet aircraft at a rate of about one plane per month for two years.= =20 "People have asked why we are spending all of this money on new airplanes=20 when we are laying off people and are in tough times," Hoeksema said.=20 "Well, the fact is the 717s are going to help us move out of tough times,=20 partly because they are 25 percent more fuel-efficient" than the McDonnell= =20 Douglas DC-9s that have been used. But Hoeksema said he expects some=20 "shrinkage" in the airline industry. "Right now, there is probably 20% too= =20 much domestic capacity. Until some of that excess capacity goes away, or=20 demand comes back, the industry is going to continue to struggle," Hoeksema= =20 said *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************