Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a trunk carrier and a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines–US Airways merger in 2013.Letter from Northwest Archived April 17, 2008.American Airlines, US Airways Complete Merger WSJ.com. Published December 10, 2013.
Northwest was headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota, near Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport. After World War II, it became dominant in the trans-Pacific market with a hub in Tokyo, Japan (initially Haneda Airport, later Narita International Airport). In response to United Airlines' 1985 acquisition of Pan Am's Pacific routes, Northwest paid $884 million to purchase Republic Airlines and then established fortress hubs at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport and Memphis International Airport. With this merger, NWA established the domestic network necessary to feed its well-established Pacific routes. Lacking a significant presence in Europe, in 1993, it began a strategic alliance with KLM and a jointly coordinated European hub at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.
Before its merger with Delta, Northwest was the world's sixth-largest airline in domestic and international scheduled passenger miles flown and the US's sixth-largest airline in domestic passenger miles flown. In addition to operating one of the largest domestic route networks in the U.S., Northwest carried more passengers across the Pacific Ocean (5.1 million in 2004) than any other U.S. carrier, and carried more domestic air cargo than any other American passenger airline.
Regional and commuter airline flights for Northwest were operated under the name Northwest Airlink by Big Sky Airlines, Eugene Aviation Services, Express Airlines I/II, Fischer Brothers Aviation, Mesaba Airlines, Northeast Express Regional Airlines, Pacific Island Aviation, Pinnacle Airlines, Precision Airlines, Simmons Airlines and Compass Airlines via respective code sharing agreements.https://northwestairlineshistory.org/aircraft/ , Airlink and Express operator and aircraft list Northwest Airlines was also a minority owner of Midwest Airlines, holding a 40% stake in the company.Northwest Airlines Becomes Minority Owner of Midwest Airlines (Midwest Airlines Official Press Release: August 17, 2007)
History
Beginnings Northwest Airlines was founded on September 1, 1926, by Colonel Lewis Brittin, under the name Northwest Airways, a reference to the historical name for the Midwestern United States that derived from the Northwest Territory. Like other early airlines, Northwest's focus was not in hauling passengers, but in flying mail for the U.S. Post Office Department. The airline was originally based in Detroit, Michigan."Significant events in Northwest's history ." Associated Press at NBC News. September 14, 2005. Retrieved on January 11, 2012. The fledgling airline established a mail route between Minneapolis and Chicago, using open-cockpit biplanes such as the Curtiss Oriole and the Waco JYM. From 1928 the enclosed cabin six-passenger Hamilton H-45 and H-47 were used.
Northwest Airlines began carrying passengers in 1927; in 1928, Northwest started its first international route with service to Winnipeg. In 1929, a group headed by Richard Lilly, a businessman from St. Paul, Minnesota, purchased the airline.
In 1933, Northwest was selected to fly the "Northern Transcontinental Route" to Seattle, Washington. It adopted the name Northwest Airlines the following year after the Air Mail scandal.Montana and the Sky: The Beginning of Aviation in the Land of the Shining Mountains p. 223 Northwest Airways, Inc. changed its name to Northwest Airlines, Inc.Ward, Paul W. "." The Sun. April 21, 1934. Start Page 1, 2 pages. Retrieved on January 11, 2012. "Northwest Airways, Inc., which had a 4.69 percent, slice of the 1933 airmail business, reorganized as the Northwest Airlines, Inc., and bid to- day to[...]" and the airline was incorporated under its new name in the State of Minnesota.
In 1939, Northwest had five daily flights from Chicago to Minneapolis; three continued west to Seattle through North Dakota and Montana. Northwest also served Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Portland, Oregon, by spurs from its transcontinental route. By the spring of 1948, Northwest was operating three different aircraft types: the 44-passenger seat Douglas DC-4, the 21-passenger seat Douglas DC-3 and the 36-passenger seat Martin 2-0-2.
Transpacific network development In 1931, Northwest sponsored Charles and Anne Lindbergh on a pioneering test flight to Japan via Alaska, scouting what would become known as the Northwest Airlines' Great Circle route that could save on a New York to Tokyo flight. Northwest began to bolster the infrastructure on the domestic leg of this route during World War II when it flew soldiers and supplies from the Northwestern United States to Alaska. It was at this point that Northwest began painting its airliners' tails bright red as a visual aid in the often harsh weather conditions. The airline's experience with the sub-arctic climate led the U.S. government to designate Northwest as the main airline over the North Pacific following the war.
In the spring of 1947, Northwest began stationing employees at Haneda Airport in Tokyo, flying them from the United States via Alaska on its Great Circle route. On July 15, 1947, Northwest was the first airline to begin direct service between the United States and Japan,First Commercial Flight from U.S. to Japan: July 15, 1947 (Northwest Airlines Website) Archived June 4, 2000. using a Douglas DC-4 airliner named The Manila. (All pre-war airline service to East Asia had been via Hawaii and the Philippines.) The flight to Japan originated at Wold-Chamberlain Field in Minneapolis and stopped at Blatchford Field in Edmonton, Elmendorf AFB in Anchorage, and Shemya AAF in the western Aleutian Islands. The flight continued from Tokyo to Lunghwa Airport in Shanghai and then to Nichols Field at Manila.
A flight between Tokyo and Seoul (Gimpo Airport) began on October 20, 1947, and Naha Airport in Okinawa began to be a stop on the Tokyo to Manila route on November 16, 1947. Northwest service to Shanghai was suspended in May 1949 because of the civil war in China, with the Republic of China on the verge of collapse, and its government evacuated to the island of Formosa (Taiwan). Northwest Airlines added Songshan Airport in Taipei, the new capital city of the Republic of China, as a stop on the Tokyo-Okinawa-Manila route on June 3, 1950, with ongoing interchange service to Hong Kong operated by Hong Kong Airways.
Northwest Orient Airlines
With transpacific flights established, Northwest began branding as Northwest Orient Airlines between 1947 and 1986, although its registered corporate name remained "Northwest Airlines".
NWA continuously upgraded equipment on the transpacific routes. On June 22, 1949, Northwest received its first double-decker Boeing 377 "Stratocruiser", enabling more comfortable accommodations and faster transpacific flights. The Stratocruiser began flying from the West Coast to Honolulu in 1950 and to Tokyo via Alaska on September 27, 1952.
In 1954, Northwest Orient purchased Douglas DC-6Bs and started flying them to Tokyo and Manila. In January 1960, Northwest was operating transcontinental Lockheed L-188 Electra turboprop service nonstop between New York City and Seattle with these flights being part of the airline's service between New York City and Asia with Douglas DC-7C aircraft being operated on the transpacific legs from Seattle and was also operating Electra propjet flights between Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee and Chicago Midway Airport in the north and several destinations in Florida in the south including Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Tampa.http://northwestairlineshistory.org , Digital Archive, Timetables, January 1, 1960, Northwest Orient Airlines system timetable On July 8, 1960, Northwest placed the Douglas DC-8 into service, offering the shortest flight times to East Asia, but within a year the airline was negotiating the sale of the five DC-8s. Northwest retired the last of its Boeing 377 Stratocruisers that September. The airline purchased several Boeing 720Bs in 1961, and 1963 several new Boeing 707-320Bs; for a time it adopted the slogan "Northwest Orient: The Fan-Jet Airline". Nonstop transpacific flights became feasible with the introduction of the 707-320B/C. Northwest bought its first Boeing 747s in 1970 and soon began retiring its smaller 707s. In addition to operating the 747's on transpacific flights, Northwest briefly flew them on its busiest domestic routes as well.
For years Northwest was the largest foreign airline serving Japan. In 1951, Northwest became involved with the founding of Japan Air Lines (JAL) by leasing airliners and crewmembers to the new airline. In 1952, United States and Japan ratified a regional bilateral aviation treaty, under which Northwest and Pan American World Airways became the two U.S. airlines in Tokyo. These carriers also received fifth freedom rights to carry passengers from and via Tokyo to other Asian destinations such as Seoul, Busan, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Manila, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Northwest also flew passenger routes from Japan to Guam and Saipan, U.S. possessions in Micronesia.
Northwest's meteorologists, led by Dan Sowa, pioneered the first clear-air turbulence forecasting system in 1957, important since the airline flew many northern routes over turbulence-prone mountain areas. Northwest remained a leader in turbulence prediction, providing TPAWS (turbulence prediction and warning services) to other airlines."McCartney, Scott. Airline passenger injuries from turbulence decline" (Archive) (The Wall Street Journal at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: May 3, 2005) "But the improvement comes from more than just buckling up. Northwest Airlines has been a pioneer in developing forecasting for turbulence and wind shear, and today Northwest sell its daily "turbulence plot" to several other airlines. Northwest is particularly interested in the issue because it flies so much in mountainous areas."
Transatlantic and domestic expansion
During the regulated era, Northwest's domestic network was mainly along the northern transcontinental route through Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle; New York and Detroit were added in 1945. Northwest also served Hawaii from the West Coast, and, starting in 1958–1959, Georgia and Florida from Chicago.1961 map and 1974 map On June 1, 1959, Northwest accepted its first turboprop, the L-188 Electra, from the Lockheed Corporation. Northwest Airlines started flying the three-engine Boeing 727-100 in November 1964;Roach and Eastwood, 2003, p. 66 many stretched B727-251s followed.
After airline deregulation in 1978, Northwest began nonstop flights to other Asian cities, returned to China in 1984 after a 34-year hiatus, and strengthened its presence in the southwestern United States. It also began flying to the United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia. On May 21, 1984, shareholders in Northwest approved the creation of NWA Inc., a Delaware corporation that became the holding company of Northwest."Northwest Historical Timeline 1980's." Northwest Airlines. Archived June 19, 2000.