Thursday, July 21, 2005 | 9:31 a.m.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- Unionized mechanics at Northwest Airlines received permission to strike Wednesday, and the airline vowed to keep flying if the people who fix its planes walk off the job at 11:01 p.m. on Aug. 19.
The threat of a strike and potential flight delays or disruptions could cripple Northwest, which has lost more than $3 billion since 2001 and is pushing all of its workers to accept $1.1 billion worth of annual pay and benefit cuts.
Northwest carries an average of 151,000 passengers a day to hundreds of locations in the United States, Europe and Asia. In the Twin Cities, an average of 70,000 people board or disembark from Northwest's 399 daily flights. So far, however, travel agents say only a handful of passengers have asked to alter flight itineraries.
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