Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) believes that a reduction in flights may restore orderly service after a week of massive cancellations last month. The airline blamed those cancellations on severe weather, air traffic control problems and pilot absenteeism, which was an astonishing 80% higher last month than in 2006. The Air Line Pilots Association's Monty Montgomery told Reuters that it would be more accurate to attribute the cancellations to inadequate staffing during the peak summer travel season.

The number five U.S. airline said last Friday that it would cancel one of its Detroit-to-Frankfurt flights starting July 18th to free up pilots, and would cut its domestic mainland capacity by 3%. "I think this is better than last-minute cancellations, but we would prefer that we have enough pilots to fly all the revenue flights," says Montgomery.

The cancellations come shortly after Northwest's exit from Chapter 11 during which relations between management and workers had been far from stellar – mainly due to the forced pay cuts for many workers. Instead of looking ahead, workers have focused on the millions in stock awards given to CEO Doug Steenland, while rank-and-file sacrificed to keep the company afloat.

At a time when pilot salaries are seemingly continuously cut, executives decided to give themselves a hefty raise. One day, executives will figure out that it was the workers who helped to pull the company out of bankruptcy, and that maybe they should get a raise, too.