Annual Benefits Enrollment will continue through Friday, Oct. 28. US-based CO, Chelsea and CMI co-workers can enroll in benefits for the 2006 calendar year by going directly to the "Your Benefits Resources" Web site at http://resources.hewitt.com-/continental or by clicking on the link at www.coair.com.  Employees who do not enroll before 11:59 p.m. CDT Friday, October, 28, will remain enrolled in their current medical option; however, they will not be enrolled in either of the Expense Reimbursement Accounts.

Continental this week reported third quarter 2005 net income of $61 million.  Continental recorded net income of $64 million.  Regardless, shares in Continental fell as much as 4 percent on Wednesday as investors looked beyond a better-than-forecast third-quarter to a murkier future. Continental shares were down 36 cents, or 3 percent, at $11.53 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange and at one point, the shares were as low as $11.40. Continental had warned that it still expected to post a "significant" loss for the fourth quarter as well as for all of 2005 and acknowledged it could face a liquidity crunch starting in 2007.  "We remain cautious on Continental, because we believe the airline faces many challenges, including continuing high fuel prices and a weak ticket pricing environment," A Calyon Securities analyst said in a research note.

Delta Air Lines' pilots union agreed to begin negotiating interim pay cuts with the company. The two sides also will work on a more comprehensive concessionary agreement. Delta, which last month filed for bankruptcy protection, hopes to reduce its labor costs by $1 billion.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Prudence Carter Beatty told Delta Air Lines Monday that it does not need to make a $160 million payment to its pension fund. The judge also ruled that DL could skip about $7 million in monthly payments to “highly compensated” retirees.  Subsequently, Delta said Tuesday that it will add 11 trans-Atlantic routes in 2006. From Atlanta, Ga., Delta plans to begin service to Tel Aviv, Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, Edinburgh, Athens and Venice—From New York JFK, the airline plans flights to Budapest, Dublin, Manchester, Kiev and Nice.

Striking members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association have finally been allowed to vote on a contract offer from Northwest Airlines that now would allow just 500-539 mechanics to return to the airline.  More than 4,400 mechanics and aircraft cleaners walked off their jobs August, 20.  Northwest quickly replaced the cleaning positions and used a mix of new hires and third-party shops to handle its mecanics needs. Prior to the strike, its final offer envisioned preserving 2,750 union mechanic jobs, but the union did not allow the members to vote on the package.  This union is backed by the McCormick group, the same people who back the union that your fellow flight attendants are attempting to convince you is a good choice for you to make, namely UIFA.  Leaders of the McCormick led union at Northwest said,  "When you look at the details, you will be hard pressed to find anything 'good.”  As the company told us many times throughout this process—'it is what it is'."   The deal also rescinds layoff protection, keeps 541-580 replacement mechanics and does not require replacements to join the union.

Northwest Airlines said it will lose about $1 billion in the second half of this year. It expects a pretax loss of $1.7 billion for the full year. The airline, which filed for bankruptcy protection last month, cited high fuel costs and weak pricing power. The airline is seeking labor savings of $1.4 billion from workers and is reducing capacity to cut costs.