Northwest Airlines - Fleet

Fleet

At the time of the merger with Delta Air Lines, Northwest had a total of 320 aircraft with seven on order. It was also the last U.S. airline to have a dedicated cargo fleet and cargo-only routes. The Northwest fleet was integrated into Delta's fleet on December 31, 2009.

Northwest operated a mixed fleet of Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, and Airbus aircraft whereas Delta operated just Boeing and McDonnell Douglas aircraft. The Boeing 757 was the only type common to the pre-merger fleets of both Delta and Northwest.

As part of a major fleet renewal program, Northwest introduced a simplified new paint scheme and logo in 2003. The airline replaced its McDonnell Douglas DC-10 airliners with the Airbus A330. Its first Airbus A330-300, used initially for European flights, arrived on August 6, 2003. Northwest Airlines also possessed the youngest trans-Atlantic fleet of any North American or European airline. 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.

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.