Jon Austin Quotations

We are enforcing the provisions of the contract we signed with our pilot employees when they joined the company.

Northwest does not want a strike and we remain actively engaged at the negotiating table. At the same time, however, we have the responsibility to make orderly and timely provisions to minimize confusion and disruptions should a strike occur. We want to keep our passengers fully informed and to assist them with alternative travel arrangements.

I'm not going to play games about who's going to call who, but clearly these guys walked out. They have to walk back in.

When (negotiations) broke last night, everybody made sure everyone had everyone's phone numbers.

We believe the future of the airline industry is based on alliances.

We're ready any time, any place, anywhere. This is the last thing I wanted to be here tonight telling you.

Our two networks are so dissimilar because they overlap in so few places that this is not really going to affect any one service.

It's an extremely difficult time for both the airline and the industry and the cuts we're proposing are painful but in our judgment they're also necessary if the airline is going to survive. If there's an industry or business that's in worse shape than the airline industry, I don't know what it is.