Northwest Airlines disappears

As of midnight on January 31, 2010, Northwest Airlines became just a memory. Its merger with Atlanta based Delta Airlines, which was first announced on April 14, 2008, and received federal approval in October of that year followed an orderly progression.

For most travelers the acquisition by Delta was seamless. Northwest's frequent flyer program WorldPerks was melded into Delta's SkyMiles, with credits transferred and consolidated.

Northwest counters and gates, at many stations, including San Diego International Airport, disappeared or were assigned to other carriers, as travelers were directed to check in for NW flights at Delta kiosks and counters.

Airline employees, including flight crews changed over to Delta uniforms, and gradually the familiar red tail fins and gray livery of the aircraft gave way to Delta's colors. About 80% of Northwest's planes have now been repainted.

CAPTIONS: (ABOVE LEFT) Northwest Airlines tail livery (Photo Credit - AP); (BELOW RIGHT TOP) Northwest aircraft being prepared for flight to the U.K. at MSP in winter (Photo Credit - Joel Siegfried);  (BELOW LEFT) Northwest Airlines original logo from 1926 (Photo Credit - Wikipedia);  (BELOW RIGHT LOWER) Delta Air Lines tail livery on Boeing 757 (Photo Credit - Airliners.net)

A video follows this article showing the history of Northwest Airlines.

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 During the merger transition, both Delta (DL) and Northwest (NW) appeared on schedules and airport flight boards. Like Cinderella's carriage turning into a pumpkin, all that ended at midnight two day ago, when the FAA gave Delta final permission to operate as one airline.

Mergers, like marriages, require compromises and name changes. Northwest Airlines history dates back to September 1, 1926, when the carrier flew mail for the U.S. Post Office under the name of Northwest Airways. Its first international route was to Winnipeg, Canada, and it later pioneered the Great Circle route to Japan. In 2004, it carried 5.1 million passengers across the Pacific Ocean, more than any other U.S. airline.

Like many other legacy carriers, including Continental, Delta Air Lines, United, and US Airways, Northwest operated in the red under U.S. bankruptcy court protection. It's merger with Delta follows consolidation throughout the economically strapped and sensitive industry. Mergers can result in a reduced number of employees, decreased capacity, leaner and sometimes less convenient schedules, fewer flights, more crowded aircraft, and higher load factors.

With notable exceptions in Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways, airlines are scrambling for extra revenues through fees for checked baggage, change of reservations, advance seat selection, and other add on charges.

Northwest's vanishing act joins a host of other carriers, ghosts from the past with brands that still resonate in aviation history and memory, including Pan American World Airways, Trans World Airlines, Eastern Air Lines, Western Airlines, and Braniff International Airways.

Hopefully Delta Air Lines will have blue skies and a balance sheet without red ink. We say farewell to Northwest. In life and in the skies, change is inevitable.

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