A federal bankruptcy judge on Tuesday gave Northwest Airlines the authority to honor the employment contracts of senior executives in order to curb attrition as the company gets closer to exiting Chapter 11. Before Tuesday's ruling, the severance packages of Northwest's senior executives, for example, would not have been protected once the company emerged from bankruptcy court protection. Now the executives will have a level of assurance against any contract changes made by new owners or board members, the company's lawyers said. Once Northwest Airlines Corp. successfully submits a plan of reorganization to the court, the interest creditors and lenders hold could be converted into equity, meaningfully altering the ownership of the company. Creditors committee lawyer Scott Hazan called the plan "downside protection in case something goes awry." The program is effective at the time the company emerges from bankruptcy protection.