Northwest Airlines was a major United States airline which existed from 1926 until 2010, when it merged with Delta Air Lines and became part of Delta Air Lines fleet. At the time of the merger it had a total of 309 aircraft. It was also the last U.S. airline to have a dedicated cargo fleet and routes.

Northwest, unlike Delta, operated a mixed fleet of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Airbus aircraft. The Boeing 757 was the only type of jet common to the pre-merger fleets of both Delta and Northwest. The Northwest fleet was integrated into Delta's fleet on December 31, 2009. The airline ceased operations and merged into Delta in 2010. Most of Northwest's Boeing 747 fleet was sent to Delta which had retired all of its own 747s in the 1970s.

As part of a major fleet renewal program, Northwest introduced a simplified new paint scheme and logo in 2003, emphasizing its callsign (NWA). The airline replaced its McDonnell Douglas DC-10 trijet airliners with the Airbus A330 twinjet. Its first Airbus A330-300, used initially for European flights, arrived on August 6, 2003. Northwest also flew the longer ranged and slightly shorter A330-200 on some trans-Pacific flights, within the Orient, and on some trans-Atlantic routes. The majority of Northwest's flights between North America and Europe were flown in Airbus A330s. (Northwest became the largest owner and flier of A330s in the world.)^[1] Northwest Airlines also possessed the youngest trans-Atlantic fleet of any North American or European airline^{[citation needed]}. Northwest Airlines also began flying reconfigured Boeing 757-200 airliners on some of its European flights carrying fewer passengers. Northwest was one of only two passenger airlines in the United States to fly the Boeing 747-400, with the only other one being United Airlines. One Boeing 747-400 originally destined to fly for Northwest Airlines was sold to United Airlines which was in service until United retired its 747 fleet in 2017.

Northwest was looking for manufacturers to discuss the replacement of their 100, 110 and 125 seat McDonnell Douglas DC-9 aircraft, with an average age of 35 years.^[2][3]

In January 2008, Northwest advised its pilots that the airline planned to cut its fleet of 92 DC-9s to 68 by the end of 2008. Northwest stated that pilot jobs will not be reduced, as they would hire approximately 200–250 pilots by the end of 2008.^[4] On April 23, 2008, due to soaring fuel costs from $1.85 in the first quarter of 2007 to $2.77 in the first quarter of 2008, Northwest announced that an additional 15 to 20 aircraft would be removed from its fleet by the end of 2009. The grounded aircraft included ten or so DC-9s, with the balance of the 15 to 20 being a mix of 10 Boeing 757s and 4 Airbus A320s.

The airline's average fleet age was 18.5 years by the end of 2009.^[5] The Boeing customer code for Northwest Airlines was 7x7-x51 (i.e. 747-451). As of October 29, 2008, at the time of the merger, Northwest Airlines' fleet consisted of the following aircraft:^[6]

• Hover over each photo to view label detail
• Airbus A319-100
• Airbus A320-200
• Airbus A330-200
• Airbus A330-300
• Boeing 747-400
• Boeing 757-200
• Boeing 757-300
• McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30
• McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40
• Boeing 727-51
• Boeing 727-251
• McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30
• McDonnell Douglas DC-9-40
• McDonnell Douglas DC-9-50

Retired Northwest Airlines fleet

This transport-related list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (October 2021)

More information Aircraft, Total ...

Northwest Airlines Retired Fleet^[10]

Aircraft	Total	Introduced	Retired	Notes
Airbus A319-100	77	1999	2008
Airbus A320-200	78	1989	2008
Airbus A330-200	11	2004	2008
Airbus A330-300	21	2003	2008
Boeing 377 Stratocruiser	10	1949	1960
Boeing 707-320B	5	1963	1971
Boeing 707-320C	30	1964	1978
Boeing 720B	17	1961	1974
Boeing 727-100	36	1964	1991
Boeing 727-200	82	1968	2003
Boeing 747-100	12	1970	1998
Boeing 747-200B	24	1971	2009	Retired from passenger in 2007. Retired from charter in 2009. N611US was the first 747-200B built.
Boeing 747-200F	10	1975	2010
Boeing 747-400	16	1989	2008
Boeing 757-200	62	1986	2008
Boeing 757-300	16	2002	2008
Boeing 787-8	16	Cancelled		ordered in 2007
Convair CV-580	14	1986	1994	Acquired during the merger with Republic Airlines in 1986.
Curtiss C-46 Commando	10	1942	Un­known	Leased from the United States Army Air Force
Douglas C-47 Skytrain	20	1944	1958
Douglas C-54 Skymaster	40	1946	1961
Douglas DC-3A	13	1939	1950
Douglas DC-4	4	1947	1961
Douglas DC-6A	7	1953	1963
Douglas DC-6B	17	1954	1965
Douglas DC-7C	17	1957	1968
Douglas DC-8-32	5	1960	1964
Ford 5-AT TriMotor	5	1928	1935
Lockheed L-9 Orion	3	1931	1933
Lockheed L-10 Electra	15	1934	1943
Lockheed L-14 Super Electra	9	1937	1939
Lockheed L-188C Electra	18	1959	1972
Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation	4	1955	1958
Martin 2-0-2	25	1947	1952
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-14	21	1986	2005	Acquired during the merger with Republic Airlines in 1986.
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15	8
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15RC	5		1993
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30	116	1986	2008
McDonnell Douglas DC-9-40	12	1989	2008
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30	21	1991	2007	Sold to ATA Airlines and Omni Air International.
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30ER	3	1998	2006
McDonnell Douglas DC-10-40	22	1973	2002
McDonnell Douglas MD-82	9	1986	1999	Acquired during the merger with Republic Airlines in 1986. One crashed as Flight 255.
Sikorsky S-38	3	1931	1935

Close

As of 2006, Northwest Cargo was the largest cargo carrier among U.S. combination passenger and cargo airlines. Northwest Cargo's fleet of 15 dedicated Boeing 747 freighter aircraft flew from key cities throughout the United States and Asia and connected the carrier's cargo hub in Anchorage, Alaska, United States (Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport), facilitating the quick transfer of cargo between large cities on both sides of the Pacific. Northwest Cargo also transported freight aboard the passenger fleet of Northwest Airlines to more than 250 cities worldwide.

As of early 2008, Northwest's largest cargo client was DHL International. In December 2007, Northwest announced that DHL International would terminate its cargo agreement with the airline effective late 2008. According to NWA Chief Financial Officer Dave Davis, the loss of its largest cargo client would bring significant changes to the division.^[20]

Northwest Cargo served airports and routes not served by the passenger operation — the last U.S. carrier to maintain a separate fleet and route network exclusively for cargo. Such cargo-only cities on Northwest's route map included Wilmington, Ohio, and cargo only routes included Chicago, Illinois to Anchorage, Alaska.

On April 21, 2009, Delta announced they were grounding 8 of their Boeing 747-200 freighter aircraft on December 31, 2009. The last flight of a dedicated cargo aircraft was December 26, 2009. Currently, Delta maintains freight activity on some of their passenger aircraft's lower deck.