CHEAP AIRLINE
HISTORY
In 1926 Northwest Airlines was
established by Colonel Lewis Brittin. The company was then
known as Northwest Airways. The
earliest services provided by Northwest Airways,
like most of the early incarnations of the major airlines,
included primarily air mail carrier service.

Northwest airline founded a
mail route that stretched between Minneapolis, Minnesota
and Chicago, Illinois. The air mail was carried in
biplanes like the Curtiss Oriole.
These were open cockpit biplanes manufactured by the Curtiss
Aeroplane and Motor Company.

It wasn’t until 1927 that
Northwest Airlines began to fly passengers. The next year,
Northwest began its first international service
route to
Winnipeg, Canada. By the end of the same decade, Northwest
Airlines was serving many smaller
cities in that region of
Canada and the United States.
 
In 1931 a landmark flight made
by Anne and Charles Lindbergh was sponsored by Northwest
Airlines. This pioneering flight to Japan proved
that flying a route through
Alaska saved up to 2,000 miles for a trip from Tokyo to or from
New York City. This route became known as the
Northwest Airlines Great Circle
Route.
During World War II Northwest
adopted its telltale red tail that remains the
trademark of its fleet to this day. Originally the red on
the tail section of Northwest’s planes was
used as a visual aid to help spot the planes in bad weather
conditions. During this era Northwest
flew frequent flights to and from Alaska,
carrying military personnel and equipment.
 
In 1947 Northwest Airlines
became the first commercial passenger carrier with flight
services from the United States to Japan, through
Anchorage, Alaska. When such new
Asian routes were added, this branch of the company named itself Northwest
Orient Airlines.
During the 1990s Northwest
Airlines began non-stop flights to many Asian cities and also
began flying to China again, though it had
flown there
until 1950. Also, Northwest worked at strengthening
its presence in the Southern United States and began other
international routes to such destinations as Ireland,
Britain, Scandinavia and Germany.
Following the United States
tragedy of September 11, Northwest Airlines, like many national
air carriers declared bankruptcy and has
yet to announce
when they are likely to pull out and show substantial
profits.

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