37 Facts About Northwest Airlines

Northwest Airlines was headquartered in Eagan, Minnesota near Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport.

Northwest Airlines began carrying passengers in 1927; in 1928 Northwest started its first international route with service to Winnipeg.

In 1933 Northwest Airlines was selected to fly the "Northern Transcontinental Route" to Seattle, Washington.

In 1939 Northwest Airlines had five daily flights from Chicago to Minneapolis; three continued west to Seattle through North Dakota and Montana.

Northwest Airlines served Winnipeg, Manitoba and Portland, Oregon by spurs from its transcontinental route.

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In 1954 Northwest Airlines Orient purchased Douglas DC-6Bs and started flying them to Tokyo and Manila.

Northwest Airlines bought its first Boeing 747s in 1970 and soon began retiring its smaller 707s.

In 1951 Northwest Airlines became involved with the founding of Japan Air Lines by leasing airliners and crewmembers to the new airline.

Northwest Airlines'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 Airlines continued to use the pre-merger Northwest Airlines Orient livery until a new livery and identity were adopted in 1989.

Northwest Airlines 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.

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 Airlines threatened bankruptcy unless its employee groups agreed to three years of wage cuts.

Also in 1993, Northwest Airlines began its strategic alliance with KLM, which was the largest airline partnership until then.

Northwest Airlines gradually pulled out of its minor European destinations and focused on domestic and Asian markets.

Northwest Airlines announced plans to shrink its Airlink fleet by over 45 aircraft.

Northwest Airlines became a minority owner of Midwest Airlines in the fourth quarter of 2007.

Immediately before Northwest Airlines ceased being an independent airline, its headquarters was in Building A, a facility in Eagan, Minnesota, near Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport and the intersection of I-35E and Interstate 494.

Northwest Airlines was the only occupant of the four-story headquarters building.

Employees remaining in the Minneapolis area were moved to Building C, the former Republic Northwest Airlines headquarters building, located on the property of Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport, as well as Building J located in Eagan.

In 1998, Northwest Airlines walked away from the bargaining table, locked out its pilots and shut down the airline for more than two weeks.

Additionally, Northwest Airlines requested searches of the home computers of rank-and-file employees, including Kevin Griffin and Frank Reed.

Previous to the recent agreements, Northwest Airlines provided employees with stock in exchange for concessions.

The pilots claimed that Northwest Airlines did not have sufficient pilots to fly its schedule; Northwest Airlines accused the pilots of calling in sick to create the problem.

Northwest Airlines began hiring new pilots to alleviate the pilot shortages they faced throughout the summer of 2007.

Under the KLM joint venture started in 1993, the two carriers established an Amsterdam hub where transatlantic routes operated by Northwest Airlines linked with European, African, and Asian routes operated by KLM.

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Northwest Airlines operated a few routes outside this hub system, such as flights from the west coast to Honolulu.

From April 2000, Northwest Airlines operated non-stop flights from Detroit to Milan and Rome, both were later withdrawn .

From 1996 until 2002, Northwest Airlines operated nonstop flights from its Detroit hub to Beijing and Shanghai.

When that happened, Northwest Airlines operated these routes from Detroit with a connection at its Tokyo-Narita hub.

In 2008, Northwest was one of several U S airlines to receive permission from the British government to fly into Heathrow Airport in London after previously having to use Gatwick Airport.

Northwest Airlines began service to Heathrow from its hubs in Detroit and Minneapolis, as well as starting Seattle-London service.

Northwest Airlines had codeshare agreements with the following airlines as of March 2009:.

Northwest Airlines operated a mixed fleet of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Airbus aircraft whereas Delta operated just Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft.

Northwest Airlines possessed the youngest trans-Atlantic fleet of any North American or European airline.

The original name of the WorldPerks program was the Northwest Orient Airlines Free Flight Plan, which began in 1981.

Northwest Airlines offered frequent flyer partnerships with the following car rental agencies:.

Northwest Airlines had partnerships with various other airline lounges on an airport-by-airport basis.