Northwest Weighs Options After Disruption

Northwest Airlines began evaluating its backup systems and emergency procedures a day after a utility crew severed a cable and knocked out a vital link in the airline’s computer network for 3 1/2 hours. Northwest spokeswoman Kathy Peach said that the cost of the disruption has yet to be calculated and that the carrier has not decided whether to sue over the cable cut. The problem began when contractors for telecommunications company McLeod USA cut through two US West fiber-optic cables in Eagan, Mich., that link Northwest’s mainframe computers to airport facilities globally, US West said. US West has a backup arrangement for Northwest, but it failed because of the extensive cable damage. Northwest canceled about 130 of its 1,700 daily flights systemwide, and hundreds of flights were delayed as employees resorted to manual backup procedures. Most of the backlog was cleared by midnight Tuesday. Northwest was fully operational Wednesday. On Nasdaq, shares of Eagan-based Northwest closed down 19 cents at $18.94, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based McLeod closed up $2.56 at $86.44.