The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association says many Northwest Airlines' flights are being delayed by the union's strike ? and support for the strikers is spreading among other groups.

The walkout began at 11:01 p.m. CDT Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, Northwest's on-time performance fell to about 50 percent, according to figures reported in JoeSentMe.com, an independent online publication for business travelers cited on the AMFA website.

The 50 percent on-time performance compares with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figure of 78 percent for Northwest's average on-time performance over the first six months of 2005, the union said.

The travel website, which tracked 99 randomly chosen Northwest U.S. and Canadian flights each day, yielded an average 46.5 percent on-time performance for Saturday and 53.5 percent on Sunday, or an average of about 50 percent for the two-day period. The information for actual-versus-scheduled departure and arrival times was Northwest's website, www.nwa.com

Northwest, meanwhile, said it experienced some problems at the beginning of the walkout, but now expects all flights to operate normally. "Using a combination of trained and licensed management staff, veteran technicians, contract and vendor mechanics, we are meeting our maintenance needs safely and reliably," the airline said.

Some 4,400 mechanics, cleaners and custodians represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association struck Northwest late Friday night. They oppose management demands to cut 2,000 jobs and slash the pay for remaining workers by 25 percent.

As AMFA members continued their round-the-clock picketing at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and other airports around the country, members of other unions voiced their support.

Karen Schultz, a member of the Professional Flight Attendants Association, said many flight attendants support AMFA, even though a majority voted not to honor the picketlines and stay off the job. Flight attendants are collecting food for the strikers and wearing Band-Aids in a show of solidarity.

"Everybody's wearing Band-Aids to stop the scabs," she explained.

Kip Hedges, a member of the International Association of Machinists and former president of the union's Local 1833, said he is one of about 50 Machinists refusing to cross the picketline in the Twin Cities. His right to honor the picketline is guaranteed in his union's contract, he said, but it means he, too, is going without a paycheck.

The AMFA members at Northwest used to be members of the IAM, but left the Machinists in 1999. Tensions remain strong from the split. Hedges said unions must look beyond those tensions and support AMFA ? just as the labor movement should have supported PATCO, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, during its ill-fated strike 24 years ago.

"We've been paying for it for 25 years," Hedges said. "We can't fall for it (divisiveness) again or we'll be paying for it for another 25 years."

Teamster Rick Sather, who drives a truck for the Minneapolis Star Tribune, said Teamsters will not drive across the picketline to deliver newspapers at the airport. Teamsters and AFSCME members are among those who have visited the strikers to show support.