Mesaba Airlines, which provides commuter flights for Northwest Airlines, and its pilots union have agreed on a new contract after 24 hours of talks, averting a strike. The Air Line Pilots Association, representing 844 Mesaba pilots, had agreed to talk with management past the strike deadline of 11:01 p.m. Friday Central time on a new contract with higher pay and retirement benefits. The two sides had been negotiating for two and a half years.þþMesaba, owned by MAIR Holdings, makes 570 daily flights under the Northwest Airline banner through Minneapolis, Detroit and Memphis, and it provides about half of Northwest's commuter flights. þþThe agreement now has to be approved by a majority of the members through electronic voting.þþþþ
Source: NY Times
