Not to be confused with China Northwest Airlines, Northwestern Air, Nordwind Airlines, or Northwest Air Base.
Northwest Airlines Corp.
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
NW
NWA
NORTHWEST
Founded
September 1, 1926 (1926-09-01) (as Northwest Airways)
Commenced operations
1934 (1934) (as Northwest Airlines)
1947 (1947) (as Northwest Orient Airlines)
September 30, 1986 (1986-09-30) (as Northwest Airlines)
Ceased operations
January 31, 2010 (2010-01-31) (merged into Delta Air Lines)
Hubs
Amsterdam (1993–2010)
Anchorage (cargo; 1947–2009)
Detroit (1986–2010)
Memphis (1986–2010)
Minneapolis/St. Paul (1926–2010)
Tokyo–Haneda (1947–1978)
Tokyo–Narita (1978–2010)
Frequent-flyer program
WorldPerks
Alliance
SkyTeam (2004–2010)
Wings Alliance
Subsidiaries
Northwest Airlink (1984–2009)
Parent company
Delta Air Lines (2009–2010)
Headquarters
Eagan, Minnesota, United States
Key people
Richard Anderson
Doug Steenland
Northwest Airlines Corp. (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States from 1926 until its merger with Delta Air Lines in 2010.[1] The merger made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines–US Airways merger in 2013.[2][3]
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 terms of domestic and international scheduled passenger miles flown and the US's sixth-largest airline in terms of domestic passenger miles flown.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6] Northwest Airlines was also a minority owner of Midwest Airlines, holding a 40% stake in the company.[7]
^"Delta and Northwest Integration: Merger Updates". Delta.com. January 31, 2010. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
^Letter from Northwest Archived April 17, 2008.
^American Airlines, US Airways Complete Merger Archived November 11, 2016, at the Wayback Machine WSJ.com. Published December 10, 2013.
^"WATS Scheduled Passenger – Kilometres Flown". Iata.org. December 4, 2012. Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
^"Scheduled Freight Tonne – Kilometres Flown". Iata.org. December 4, 2012. Archived from the original on October 6, 2013. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
^https://northwestairlineshistory.org/aircraft/ Archived August 9, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, Airlink and Express operator and aircraft list
^Northwest Airlines Becomes Minority Owner of Midwest Airlines (Midwest Airlines Official Press Release: August 17, 2007)
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