Northwest Airlines

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Northwest Airlines Corp.

IATA ICAO Call sign NW NWA NORTHWEST
Founded	September 1, 1926 (1926-09-01) (as Northwest Airways)
Commenced operations	October 1, 1926 (1926-10-01) (as Northwest Airways) April 16, 1934 (1934-04-16) (as Northwest Airlines) July 15, 1947 (1947-07-15) (as Northwest Orient Airlines) October 1, 1986 (1986-10-01) (as Northwest Airlines)
Ceased operations	April 16, 1934 (1934-04-16) (as Northwest Airways) July 15, 1947 (1947-07-15) (as Northwest Airlines) October 1, 1986 (1986-10-01) (as Northwest Orient Airlines) January 31, 2010 (2010-01-31) (merged into Delta Air Lines)
Hubs	Amsterdam (1993–2010) Detroit (1986–2010) Memphis (1986–2010) Minneapolis/St. Paul (1926–2010) Tokyo–Haneda (1947–1978) Tokyo–Narita (1978–2010)
Focus cities	Indianapolis
Frequent-flyer program	Free Flight Plan (1981–1986) WorldPerks (1986–2009)
Alliance	SkyTeam (2004–2010) Wings Alliance
Subsidiaries	Northwest Airlink (1984–2010) Northwest Jet Airlink (1997–2003)
Parent company	Delta Air Lines (2009–2010)
Headquarters	2700 Lone Oak Parkway, Eagan, Minnesota, United States
Key people	Richard Anderson Doug Steenland
Website	www.nwa.com

Northwest Airlines (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it merged 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 domestic and international scheduled passenger miles flown and the US's sixth-largest airline in 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]