Northwest Airlines

Northwest Airlines Corp.

IATA ICAO Callsign NW NWA NORTHWEST
Founded	September 1, 1926 (1926-09-01) (as Northwest Airways)
Commenced operations	1934 (1934) (as Northwest Airlines) 1947 (1947) (as Northwest Orient Airlines) September 30, 1986 (1986-09-30) (as Northwest Airlines)
Ceased operations	January 31, 2010 (2010-01-31) (merged into Delta Air Lines)
Hubs	Amsterdam (1993–2010) Anchorage (cargo; 1947–2009) Detroit (1986–2010) Memphis (1986–2010) Minneapolis/St. Paul (1926–2010) Tokyo–Haneda (1947–1978) Tokyo–Narita (1978–2010)
Frequent-flyer program	WorldPerks
Alliance	SkyTeam (2004–2010) Wings Alliance
Subsidiaries	Northwest Airlink (1984–2009)
Parent company	Delta Air Lines (2009–2010)
Headquarters	Eagan, Minnesota, United States
Key people	Richard Anderson Doug Steenland
Website	www.nwa.com

Northwest Airlines Corp. (often abbreviated as NWA) was a major airline in the United States 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 terms of domestic and international scheduled passenger miles flown and the US's sixth-largest airline in terms of 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]