Some of us can remember a time when any number of US airlines graced the skies, both near and far. Most dated back to the early days of commercial aviation and every single one of them had a loyal fan base. Several were permanently grounded as a result of severe financial difficulties that no amount of bankruptcy restructuring could fix. Others were absorbed in complicated mergers that left only one carrier as the surviving airline. Whatever the reason, all of them are missed. That’s why I thought it’d be fun to take a look back at these bygone airlines; how they started, how they grew and what contributions they made to the world of aviation. This is the fourth installment in a multi-part series. If you’re lucky enough to remember flying just one of these carriers, I hope you enjoy your trip down memory lane. If not, I'm betting you'll appreciate learning more about what made each airline special and the role they played in the evolution of the industry. Next up - Northwest Airlines.
This carrier was founded on September 1, 1926 by Minnesota entrepreneur Colonel Lewis Hotchkiss Brittin under the name Northwest Airways. It was started as a Michigan corporation with operations based at Speedway Flying Field, site of today’s Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. The company’s airmail contract with the US Post Office Department required that delivery start on October 1. Brittin rented two open-cockpit biplanes to make the twice-daily, eight-hundred-mile round-trip flight to Chicago. By November, the company owned three Stinson Detroiter closed-cabin planes. Northwest Airways began passenger service to Chicago on July 5, 1927. Stunt pilot Charles “Speed” Holman carried two passengers on the inaugural flight. Engine failure forced an emergency landing near Hastings, Minnesota, but a second attempt made it safely to Chicago at 2:30 in the morning on July 6. The airline carried 106 passengers in the first year, charging $30 one way and $50 round trip (equivalent to about $479 and $798 today). The airline made its first international flight to Winnipeg in 1928 and over the next five years expanded service westward, city by city, through the Dakotas, Montana and Washington State.
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 saved 2,000 miles on a New York to Tokyo flight. Three years later, the carrier changed its name to Northwest Orient Airlines. During the Second World War, they began to bolster the infrastructure on the domestic leg of the defunct Tokyo route when the airline flew soldiers and supplies from the Northwestern US 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 carrier's experience with the sub-arctic climate led the US 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 US via Alaska on its Great Circle route. In 1947 Northwest Orient service began from the Twin Cities via Edmonton, Anchorage and Shemya, Alaska, to Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai and Manila.
For years Northwest was the largest foreign airline serving Japan. In 1951 they became involved with the founding of Japan Air Lines (JAL) by leasing airliners and crew members to the new airline. The US and Japan later ratified a regional bilateral aviation treaty, under which Northwest and Pan American World Airways became the two US airlines at 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 from Japan to Guam and Saipan, US 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.
During the regulated era, Northwest's domestic network was mainly along the northern transcontinental route through Chicago, Minneapolis, and Seattle; while the cities of New York and Detroit were added in 1945. The airline also served Hawaii from the West Coast, and, starting in 1959, Georgia and Florida from Chicago. In early June of that same year, the carrier accepted its first turboprop, the L-188 Electra, from the Lockheed Corporation. Northwest Airlines started flying the three-engine Boeing 727-100 jet aircraft in November 1964. The carrier bought its first Boeing 747 in 1970 and soon began retiring its smaller 707s. In addition to operating the 747s on transpacific flights, Northwest briefly flew them on its busiest domestic routes as well. Following airline deregulation in 1978, the airline began nonstop flights to other Asian cities, returned to China in 1984 after a thirty-four 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, company shareholders approved the creation of NWA Inc., that became the holding company for Northwest Airlines.
The company was purchased in a 1989 leveraged buyout by an investment group. To pay off the debt incurred, the new management sold many of the airline's aircraft to leasing companies, and also 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, the carrier made its first profit since 1989. Through the late 1990s and early 2000s, the airline enjoyed profits and focused on improving technology to increase convenience and reduce costs. This resulted in many "firsts." The carrier offered airport self-service check-in kiosks starting in 1997 and had more of them than any other airline. Northwest was also the first large US airline to offer passengers internet check-in, with service from December 2000. During the early 2000s, the airline also 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.
Due to 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. In the aftermath, the airline 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 the McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40 were accelerated as new aircraft went into service. In addition, the company pursued options to reduce costs across the board. These included the removal of pillows, peanuts, pretzels, and in-flight entertainment on domestic flights, as well as newspapers and magazines.
Despite far-reaching money saving initiatives, Northwest was later 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. As fuel prices surged and the economy continued to falter, executives from Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines wanted to be the first to merge. “We had to start grinding out the synergies because the industry was in distress,” said Richard Anderson, then Northwest CEO. On April 14, 2008, Northwest Airlines announced that it would be merging with Delta Air Lines to form what was then the world's largest airline. The merger was approved on October 29, 2008 and Anderson became CEO of the combined airline which used the Delta name and branding. On October 1, 2009, the Northwest WorldPerks Frequent Flyer Program merged into the Delta SkyMiles Program. At the end of January, 2010, Delta completed the merger of the reservation systems and discontinued using the Northwest name for any future flights. The last official flight for the carrier was Flight #2470 which departed Los Angeles, California for Las Vegas, Nevada, at 8:45 PM on January 30 of that year. Once it landed, Northwest Airlines faded into the sunset after an eventful history spanning eighty-four years!
Until next time…safe travels.
Fascinating George. Sad that such a pioneering airline was assimilated and ceased to be - the price of progress?