Northwest, Pilot Talks Stalled

Contract talks between Northwest Airlines Corp. and its pilots reached an impasse Friday, the pilots union said, heightening the chances of a strike at the United States’ fourth-largest airline.

The Air Line Pilots Assn., the union representing Northwest pilots, said negotiations with the company ended without a new contract proposal, and no further negotiations are scheduled.

ALPA said one stumbling block in the talks is the rights Northwest pilots would have under a proposed alliance between Northwest and Continental Airlines Inc., the United States’ fifth-largest airline.

A Northwest spokesman said pay and pensions were the primary issues holding up a new contract.

The National Mediation Board, which has been supervising negotiations since August, must now decide whether an impasse does exist after 22 months of talks between the airline and the pilots’ union.