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Northwest Airlines is a United States airline headquartered in Eagan,
Minnesota. The airline accounts for more than 70% of passenger traffic at nearby Minneapolis-Saint Paul
International Airport.
Northwest has the IATA designation NW and the ICAO code NWA. Northwest
Airlines' regional flights are operated under two airlines, which operate under the name Northwest Airlink.
Northwest has three major hubs in the United States and one in Japan: Minneapolis-Saint Paul
International Airport near Minneapolis, Minnesota
and Saint Paul, Minnesota; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne
County Airport near Detroit, Michigan; Memphis International Airport in Memphis, Tennessee; and Narita International Airport in Narita, Japan Northwest also operates into India from Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam. The airline is partnered
with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Continental Airlines, and most recently Delta Air Lines.
Northwest was formerly part of the Wings Alliance and currently codeshares with SNCF
French Rail to destinations in France, and Thalys International to destinations in Belgium.
Northwest's current frequent flyer program is
WorldPerks.
History
In 1926, Northwest Airways began flying air mail from Minneapolis to Chicago using two biplanes. The airline's operations were expanded to smaller cities
in the region by the end of the decade. In 1933, Northwest was designated to fly the
Northern Transcontinental Route from New York City to Seattle, Washington: it adopted the name Northwest
Airlines the following year.
During World War II, NWA flew military equipment and personnel from the
continental United States to Alaska. This experience led the government to designate
Northwest as the United States' main North Pacific carrier following the war. In 1947, NWA
became the first U.S. airline to fly to Japan, using Boeing 377 Stratocruisers
from Seattle (direct) and Chicago (via Anchorage). From Tokyo, Northwest flights continued to Shanghai, Manila, and Hong Kong. (Taipei replaced Shanghai after the revolution of 1949.) With its new routes, the airline rebranded itself as Northwest
Orient Airlines.
After airline deregulation, Northwest began direct
flights to other Asian cities, and gradually strengthened its presence in the southern United States. It also began flying to
Britain, Ireland, Germany, and Scandinavia. In 1985, Northwest purchased Republic Airlines and adopted its three-hub network centered around Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis.
Northwest returned to its original name with the merger.
In 1993, Northwest entered its cooperative agreement with KLM, which was the largest
airline partnership ever conceived at the time. Northwest gradually pulled out of its minor European destinations and focused its
attention on the domestic and Asian markets once more.
If Operation Bojinka had not been discovered in Manila, Philippines, then the airline would have lost three
aircraft over the Pacific Ocean flying routes from East Asia and Southeast
Asia on January 21, 1995.
Fleet
Northwest operates the oldest airline fleet in the world, with an average aircraft age of just over 18 years [1] . Many types in its fleet, such as the
DC-9 and DC-10, have been abandoned by other airlines. Although Northwest is currently working to modernize
its fleet, many of these older types remain operational. The airline's fleet currently consists of:
Northwest also operates twelve Boeing 747-200F freighters. These planes do
not include the planes opperated under the Northwest Airlink name by Mesaba and Pinnacle Airlines.
Destinations
The list does not include cities only served by Northwest
Airlink.
United States, U.S. Territories, Canada, and Mexico
The Caribbean, excluding US territories
External links
Business Class
Northwest's A330s and 747-400s have the first flat reclining seats in business class on any american airline. The A330s also
have telivisons on the back of every coach seat.
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