Early Years
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. 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 designs were used.
Northwest Airlines Douglas DC-3 Northwest Airlines began carrying passengers in 1927. In 1928, Northwest started its first international route with service to Winnipeg. The airline's operations had expanded to many smaller cities in that region by the end of the 1920s. In 1929, a group headed by Richard Lilly, a businessperson from St. Paul, Minnesota, purchased the airline.
In 1933, Northwest airlines was selected to fly the "Northern Transcontinental Route" from New York City to Seattle, Washington. It adopted the name of Northwest Airlines during the following year as a result of the Air Mail scandal.[citation needed] Northwest Airways, Inc. changed its name to Northwest Airlines, Inc.[8] and the airline was incorporated under its new name in the State of Minnesota.
By 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.
Northwest Airlines common stock began to be publicly traded in 1941.
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 as much as 2,000 miles (3,000 km) on a New York City to Tokyo flight. Northwest developed this route further during World War II, when it flew soldiers and supplies from the Northwestern United States to Alaska. During that time 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. federal government to designate Northwest as the main airline over the North Pacific following the war.
In 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 became the first airline to begin direct service between the United States and Japan, using a Douglas DC-4 airliner named The Manila. (All pre-war airline service to the Orient 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 westmost 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 was included as 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 nearly ready to 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.
With its new system of transpacific flights established, Northwest began to advertise itself as Northwest Orient Airlines, although its registered corporate name remained "Northwest Airlines".
Northwest Boeing 707-351B departing from San Francisco in 1970 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 service on transpacific flights. The Stratocruiser commenced service from the U.S. West Coast to Honolulu in 1950 and to Tokyo, via Alaska, on September 27, 1952.
In 1954 Northwest Orient purchased DC-6Bs and started flying them to Tokyo and Manila. On July 8, 1960 Northwest placed the Douglas DC-8 jetliner 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 August. The airline purchased several Boeing 720B airliners in 1961, and in 1963 several new Boeing 707-320B; 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 747 airliners in 1970 and soon began retiring its older and smaller Boeing 707s. Besides its usefulness on transpacific flights, for a time Northwest also flew 747s on its busiest domestic routes.
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 allowed to fly to Tokyo. These carriers also received fifth freedom rights to carry passengers from and via Tokyo to other Asian destinations such as Seoul, Busan, Taipei, Manila, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore. Northwest also flew passenger routes that connected Japan with 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 remains a leader in turbulence prediction, providing TPAWS (turbulence prediction and warning services) to other airlines.
Boeing 747-100 at Osaka Itami Airport ca. 1990, in post-merger Northwest livery During the postwar regulated era, Northwest's domestic network remained focused around the northern transcontinental route through New York, Boston, Chicago, Minneapolis and Seattle. Northwest also served Hawaii from the West Coast, and Georgia and Florida from Chicago. On June 1, 1959, Northwest accepted its first turboprop jet aircraft, the Lockheed L-188 Electra, from its manufacturer. Northwest Airlines started flying the three-engine Boeing 727 jet airliner in November 1964, when its first short fuselage series 51 was delivered. Many examples of the stretched series 251 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.[citation needed] On May 21, 1984, shareholders in Northwest approved the creation of NWA Inc., a Delaware corporation that became the holding company of Northwest.
On October 1, 1986, Northwest merged with Republic Airlines, also based in Minneapolis-St. Paul. It was the largest airline merger in history at the time and it initially caused numerous operational issues which led the combined carrier to have an on-time performance of just 42 percent in its early days. Through the merger, NWA adopted Republic's three-hub domestic network centered around Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit, and Memphis. The combined airline became particularly strong in the first two cities, with a market share of over 80% in each.[18] Northwest dropped the word Orient from its brand name after the merger.
One major reason for the merger was that Northwest's unique position as a domestic and transpacific carrier had been challenged in 1985 when United Airlines acquired the Pacific Division of Pan Am.
A Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30. Northwest was the last major passenger airline to fly the DC-10 when its last one was retired on January 8, 2007. Northwest continued to use the pre-merger Northwest Orient livery (minus the word "Orient" until a new livery and identity (designed by Landor Associates) were adopted in 1989. The new livery, nicknamed the "bowling shoe" by employees, featured colors of red, white, gray, and blue.
Northwest was purchased in a 1989 leveraged buyout by an investment group headed by Al Checchi, Fred Malek and Gary Wilson, with KLM, and many others. To pay off the debt incurred in their takeover, the new management sold many of the airline's aircraft to leasing companies, and sold property around the world, including land in central Tokyo. The expense of the buyout was so great that in 1993, following several years of losses due to industry overcapacity and a traffic downturn following the Gulf War, Northwest threatened bankruptcy unless its employee groups agreed to three years of wage cuts. After signing the concessionary agreements, Northwest made its first profit since 1989.
This Northwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was painted in a hybrid Northwest-KLM livery to advertise the alliance between the two airlines. Also in 1993, Northwest began its strategic alliance with KLM, which was the largest airline partnership ever conceived at the time. This partnership eventually became the Wings Alliance. However, the alliance never grew beyond the two airlines. Northwest gradually pulled out of its minor European destinations and once more focused its attention on the domestic and Asian markets. On May 1, 1996 Northwest began its first nonstop service from the U.S. to China, on the Detroit–Beijing route. Nonstop Detroit-Shanghai service followed in April 2000. Later, these nonstop services were suspended in 2002 due to the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).[citation needed] Northwest then served these routes via Tokyo. The airline sought government approval to restore nonstop Detroit-Shanghai service in March 2007 but lost its bid to United's Washington Dulles-Beijing route; however, before their merger with Delta Air Lines, Northwest received tentative authority to restart nonstop Detroit-Shanghai service starting March 25, 2009.
Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, Northwest enjoyed profits and focused on improving technology to increase convenience while reducing costs. The airline offered airport self-service check-in kiosks starting in 1997, and had more than any other airline. Northwest was also the first large U.S. airline to offer passengers internet check-in, with service from December 2000. During the early 2000s, Northwest Airlines acquired a reputation of refusing to adopt industry-wide fare increases that had been accepted by other airlines. This changed in March 2005, when Northwest adopted fare hikes in response to rising oil prices.
747-251B in the "Bowling Shoe" livery. This livery was used from 1989 until 2003. Due to the effects of competition from low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines and increased labor costs resulting from a new contract with employees represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) labor union, Northwest began to make cutbacks in early 2001. Two small rounds of employee layoffs and other cutbacks were implemented in the months prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks. Following the attacks, Northwest was forced to make dramatic changes to its business structure through major employee layoffs and other cost cutting measures. The retirement of costly and aging aircraft such as the Boeing 727 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40 were accelerated as new aircraft went into service. In addition, the airline pursued options to reduce costs across the board, including removing pillows, peanuts, pretzels, in-flight entertainment on domestic flights, and newspapers and magazines. Over 50 McDonnell Douglas DC-9, Boeing 757, Boeing 747, and Airbus A320 family aircraft were withdrawn from use in an attempt to lower overall capacity and save money. Some of these aircraft were returned to service.[citation needed]
Following many years of a pioneering and close partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest, along with partners KLM and Continental Airlines joined SkyTeam, an airline alliance of ten airlines from around the world, on September 15, 2004. This was partially a result of Air France acquiring KLM, forming the Air France-KLM group. The airline continued to hemorrhage money, however.
Despite far-reaching money saving initiatives, Northwest was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the first time in its 79-year history. The filing took place in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on September 14, 2005. With Northwest's filing, four of the six largest U.S. carriers were operating under bankruptcy protection. Northwest joined Delta Air Lines (which filed just minutes before), United Airlines, and US Airways in bankruptcy. All four carriers subsequently emerged from bankruptcy protection. Northwest common stock shares dropped more than 50% for the second time in three days following the news, largely because stock is generally canceled as part of the bankruptcy process. In the following weeks, Northwest Airlink carriers Mesaba Airlines and Pinnacle Airlines both announced that Northwest Airlines had missed payments to them for their Airlink flying. Northwest also announced plans to shrink its Airlink fleet by over 45 aircraft. Mesaba Aviation filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on October 13, 2005.
Northwest announced on May 18, 2007, that shares of the company would begin to trade on the NYSE under the ticker NWA. Initial trading on a "when-issued" basis began on May 21, 2007, and regular trading began on May 31, 2007. Also on May 18, 2007, Northwest Airlines was cleared by a federal bankruptcy judge to emerge from Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on May 31, 2007, ending Northwest's 20 months of difficulty trying to slash costs.
On July 16, 2007, Northwest Airlines applied to the United States Department of Transportation for nonstop service between its WorldGateway hub at Detroit to Shanghai (beginning in 2007 on Boeing 747-400s) and to Beijing (beginning in 2010 on Boeing 787 Dreamliners). The airline faced off against Delta Air Lines (who proposed Atlanta to Shanghai and Beijing), American Airlines (Chicago/O'Hare—Beijing), Continental Airlines (Newark—Shanghai), US Airways (Philadelphia—Beijing), United Airlines (Los Angeles—Shanghai and San Francisco—Guangzhou), and MAXjet (Seattle—Shanghai) in the route competition.[citation needed]
On August 12, 2007, Northwest Airlines became a passive investor in the purchase of Midwest Airlines by TPG Capital. The airline stated that while it was an investor, it would not participate in any management or control of Midwest Airlines.[23] However, on August 14, 2007, AirTran Airways raised their offer for Midwest to $16.25 a share, 25 cents more than the TPG offer.[24] But soon after on August 17, 2007, TPG Capital raised their offer to $17.00 a share which sealed the deal. Northwest Airlines became a minority owner of Midwest Airlines in the fourth quarter of 2007.
On September 25, 2007, Northwest Airlines received DOT approval to begin service to Shanghai from its Detroit hub beginning March 25, 2009. American, Continental, Delta, and US Airways also received new or additional China route authority to Shanghai or Beijing, and United received authority to serve Guangzhou.
On April 15, 2008, Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines announced a merger agreement. The merger of the two carriers formed what was then the largest commercial airline in the world, with 786 aircraft. The merged airline is called "Delta Air Lines."
It had been reported as early as January 2008 that Delta and Northwest were in merger discussions. News reports covering the event and the official press release reported that the new airline would use the Delta name and have its headquarters in Atlanta. The proposed merger partners lost a combined $10.5 billion in first quarter 2008, an amount that exceeded their combined market capitalization.
When the airlines combined, the "new Delta" would be based in Atlanta with a network focused on its main hubs in Atlanta and Detroit, along with other hubs at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, Salt Lake City International Airport, Memphis International Airport (hub later closed in September 2013), Narita International Airport near Tokyo, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Announcement
On April 14, 2008, both Delta and Northwest Airlines announced that they would merge to create the world's largest airline under the Delta name. The Atlanta-based combined airline will have $17.7 billion enterprise value. The company also stated on April 14, 2008 that it agreed with its pilot union to extend the existing collective bargaining agreement through the end of 2012.[citation needed] The agreement, subject to a vote by the pilots, provided Delta pilots a 3.5% equity stake in the created new airline.
After the announcemen
On September 26, 2008 it was announced that both Delta and Northwest's shareholders had approved the merger. Approval by a federal antitrust review board was the last step needed to finalize the deal. The proposed merger "is likely to produce substantial and credible efficiencies that will benefit U.S. consumers and is not likely to substantially lessen competition," the Justice Department said in a statement issued by its Antitrust Division.
The deal passed through anti-trust overview from the Department of Justice; as most analysts expected, the deal was not blocked, due to the minimal overlap between the two airlines' routes and very little threat to competition in the industry. The merger was also expected to be the subject of several hearings in the United States Congress. Representative Jim Oberstar of Minnesota, who also serves as chair of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, made clear his opposition to the merger, and he fought it in Washington. There was also strong support for the merger at the Capitol from legislators from Georgia, including Representative Lynn Westmoreland, Representative David Scott, and Senator Johnny Isakson. On August 7, 2008, the merger got regulatory approval from the European Union.
After a six-month investigation, government economists concluded the merger would likely drive down costs for consumers without curbing competition. On October 29, 2008, the United States Department of Justice approved Delta's plan to acquire Northwest.
Delta and Northwest's operating certificates were merged on December 31, 2009. From a technical standpoint, Northwest then ceased to exist as an independent carrier. Ground operations and reservations systems were combined on January 31, 2010.
Transition from Northwest to Delta
In airports where Northwest and Delta operate in separate terminals, one airline moved to the other's terminal. For example, in Los Angeles International Airport, NWA, which had a smaller operation, moved into Delta's Terminals 5 and 6 from its previous location in Terminal 2 on June 30, 2009.
Northwest WorldPerks was merged into Delta SkyMiles on October 1, 2009.
