United said it was still negotiating with its unions to reach agreement on $2.4 billion in annual cuts.

Then in November, they agreed to a temporary annual cut of $215 million.

The new contract would provide Northwest with $1957 million in annual cuts through 2011.

The company is seeking $314 million in annual cuts from its 24,000 flight attendants.

The latest forest plan allows for an annual "cut" of 267 million board feet a year.

During those talks, American obtained $1.8 billion in annual cuts.

In recent years, that has been achieved with annual cuts of about $30 billion.

The carrier had originally asked the pilots for $595 million in annual cuts over seven and a half years.

Those groups are expected to give $660 million and $620 million in annual cuts.

The result is that a further £15bn of annual cuts will be needed to keep the deficit reduction on track.