Northwest Airlines Reduces Prices to Europe : Travel: The cuts come a week after a similar drop. They are evidence that an industry fare war is far from over.

Northwest Airlines Inc. escalated the war over air fares Sunday, announcing price cuts for European flights that deepen reductions adopted by the industry last week.

The discounts come two days after St. Paul, Minn.-based NWA Inc., Northwest’s parent, reported that second-quarter losses widened to $146 million due to recent fare battles and economic weakness.

Since Northwest serves only five cities in Europe, the cuts are not expected to have as big an impact as those initiated last week by Delta Air Lines, which sliced European fares between 10% and 40%.

But the price paring threatens to further aggravate losses suffered by the industry, whose profits during the spring and summer--the year’s peak travel season--were destroyed by discounting.

In last week’s round, Northwest and other carriers cut fares to Europe for travel between Oct. 1 and March 31.

On Sunday, Northwest said it will cut prices in 70 markets by up to 45% for travel between Nov. 1 and March 31. Tickets must be purchased by Sept. 1.

Northwest spokesman Jim Faulkner said some of the new Northwest fares are 20% less than Delta’s cuts.

Delta and American Airlines said they are studying the cuts. United Airlines declined to comment. A Trans World Airlines spokesman could not be reached.

Explaining the sale’s start on Nov. 1, Northwest spokesman Jon Austin said that advance bookings for flights later in the period were not as strong as hoped.

“Looking at our advance bookings, we wanted to goose travel a little later in the fall,” he said. “You have to stay competitive on these things, and we’re certainly not afraid to stimulate traffic where it needs to be done.”

For example, Northwest cut regular fares 26% to $548 for a round-trip flight between Cincinnati and London. Under Delta’s cuts, round-trip prices on the route dropped 11% to $548.

Other Northwest fare cuts include $428 round-trip between Boston and Amsterdam, 29% off the regular price; $448 between Indianapolis and Amsterdam, a 44% reduction, and $598 between Seattle and Paris, 38% off.

Austin denied that the new Northwest cuts will worsen the industry’s woes. Three carriers, TWA, America West and Continental Airlines are operating under bankruptcy court protection, and many analysts expect at least two airlines to disappear by the end of the year.

Airline analysts say the future of Northwest depends mostly on the economy and fuel prices and whether another fare war can be avoided. Some critics say Northwest could go the route of sickly rivals that landed in Chapter 11.

Northwest disputes such suggestions.

The industry, which was bleeding red ink from the recession and fallout from the Gulf War, saw its troubles accelerate when American, the industry’s most influential price setter, halved many fares in the spring.