SARS triggers more pilot furloughs at Northwest EAGAN, Minn. (AP) =97 Northwest Airlines expects to furlough 150 more pilots= =20 because of cutbacks in Asia flights stemming from travelers' fears about=20 SARS, the union representing its pilots said. Although Northwest said=20 Friday that no decision has been made about SARS-related layoffs in other=20 work groups, the Eagan-based airline recently notified all of its unions=20 that more jobs may be cut due to passenger fears about severe acute=20 respiratory syndrome. Analysts estimate that about 20 percent of=20 Northwest's revenue comes from its trans-Pacific routes. The carrier serves= =20 Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei, Singapore and 10 other cities through= =20 its Tokyo hub. The latest planned cuts, announced Friday on the Air Line Pilots=20 Association hot line, would bring the number of Northwest pilot furloughs=20 to 1,093 by January. At the end of May, Northwest had 708 pilots on=20 furlough and about 5,600 still flying. New cuts are planned each month=20 through January. Northwest, which has lost $1.6 billion and cut 17,000 jobs= =20 since the start of 2001, plans to idle some of its 16 747-200s, which are=20 used for international flights and flights to Hawaii. Reasons for lost=20 business include the slow economy, lagging business travel, the Sept. 11=20 terrorist attacks and the SARS outbreak, airline spokesman Bill Mellon=20 said. Northwest is seeking nearly $1 billion in wage, work rule and benefit= =20 concessions from its workers to try to regain profitability. SARS was first= =20 detected in Asia last fall. Since then, more than 8,000 people have been=20 infected and more than 750 have died, the majority of them in China and=20 Hong Kong. *************************************************** 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/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.natalielaughlin.com/ TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************