Northwest still having end-of-month pilot problems

As July draws to a close, Northwest Airlines has again been having problems with excessive flight cancellations due to pilot shortages. The airline again is claiming some pilots are not showing up for work, while pilots say their monthly flight hours are used up and blame the airline for not having enough pilots. The airline reportedly canceled more than 100 flights on Friday (July 27) and Saturday (July 28), and some 200 flights on Sunday (July 29) – several times the usual daily average. During the last week of June, Northwest canceled more than 1,000 flights. Northwest has said it would cut back its August flight schedule by about 4 percent to prevent a recurrence of the situation; it has also started recalling and training more pilots to shore up its workforce.