Northwest Airlines was a major airline in the United States that operated from 1926 until it merged with Delta Air Lines in 2010. The merger made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines–US Airways merger in 2013.
It 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. 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.
Northwest Airways[]
1926–1934[]
Alternate variant
Northwest Airlines (first era)[]
1934–1945[]
1945–1947[]
Northwest Orient Airlines[]
1947–1950[]
1950–1957[]
1957–1962[]
Print variant
1962–1969[]
Full variant
1969–1986[]
BETTER LOGO NEEDED
Designer:
Clarence K. M. Lee
Typography:
Helvetica (modified)
Launched:
March 31, 1969
This logo was created for, according to an employee magazine, "a new look for the fast paced '70s."
This logo was created by Landor Associates. The triangle within the circle serves both to point to compass direction northwest and to imply a W when combined with the shape of the N.
2003–2010[]
Designer:
TrueBrand
Typography:
Frutiger
Launched:
April 3, 2003
Following many years of a pioneering and close partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Northwest, along with partners KLM and Continental Airlines, joined SkyTeam, an alliance of ten airlines from around the world, on September 15, 2004. This was partially a result of Air France merging with KLM, forming the Air France-KLM group. Northwest continued to hemorrhage money, however. In April 2008, it was revealed that Northwest Airlines will be merging with Delta Air Lines. The merger occurred on January 31, 2010.
