...but You Gotta Read the Whole Report

Northwest Airlines Corporation, the parent of Northwest Airlines, reported a second quarter net profit of $227 million or $2.45 per diluted common share. This compares to a second quarter 2002 net loss of $93 million or $1.08 per common share.

Northwest's second quarter 2003 results included $387 million of unusual items:

• A $209 million reimbursement of security fees received from the U.S. government under the Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act;
• A $199 million gain resulting from the sale of Northwest's interest in Worldspan; and
• A $21 million charge related to the write-down of certain aircraft.
• Excluding these unusual items, Northwest reported a second quarter 2003 net loss of $160 million or $1.86 per common share.

"Second quarter results were impacted by the war in Iraq and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome). Moreover, we are still not seeing meaningful improvement in the underlying financial performance of the airline," said Richard Anderson, chief executive officer.

"Excluding the unusual gains resulting from the sale of our Worldspan investment and the one-time federal reimbursement received under the Wartime Act, Northwest's $160 million loss was its worst second quarter performance in company history," Anderson continued.

Anderson added, "While we aggressively reduced capacity and parked aircraft in response to the Iraq war and SARS, the revenue environment, at best, is showing marginal improvement. Clearly, with losses of the magnitude that we are experiencing, our top priority remains to bring the company's costs in line with our new level of revenues. We continue to work with our labor union leaders and our suppliers to address our cost of operation, as Northwest must align its cost structure with its revenue expectations and with those of our major competitors."

FMI: www.nwa.com