One of the major airlines, and one of the oldest in the United States, is an airline called Northwest Airlines. At one point this airline's name advertised its international routes: Northwest Orient. Today this airline has code-share agreements with many airlines worldwide.
Northwest Airlines began operations on 1 September 1926 as a Michigan corporation. Corporate operations were based at what was then known as Speedway Flying Field (today's Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport stands there now). Col. Lewis Brittin founded Northwest Airways and was the Vice President and General Manager. Harold H. Emmons of Detroit was the first president.
A month later, on 1 October, Northwest Airways took off from the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota) with air mail bound for Chicago. The airline had two rented biplanes-a Thomas Morse Scout and a Curtiss Oriole. On 2 November a third plane would be added. The three passenger Stinson Detroiter was the nation's first closed-cabin commercial plane. But only mail would be flown on Northwest for a few more months.
On 5 July 1927 Northwest flew its first ticketed passenger as Byron Webster, a businessman from St. Paul, paid $40 for a 12 ½ hour flight. Where did Mr. Webster fly to? Well, he flew to Chicago. But this was not a direct flight. Stops were made in La Crosse, Madison, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. No word on if these stops helped get Mr. Webster any more frequent flyer miles or what kind of food he may have been served.
At 12 ½ hours Mr. Webster might have been better off driving from St. Paul to Chicago. The pilot, ironically, was Charlie "Speed" Holman. By the end of the year Northwest would carry a total of 106 passengers. Today Northwest has 747s that can fly about 400 people on one flight. How times have changed!
On 1 February 1928 Northwest becomes an international airline. What exotic locale did Northwest fly to to garner such giddy renown? The Twin Cities-to-Winnipeg, Manitoba, route. Again, this was not a direct flight as a stop was made in Fargo, North Dakota. This flight had lasted three months when the Canadian government opposed the service, but the flights crossed national borders. In February 1931 service to Winnipeg would resume as Northwest would fly passengers and mail to Pembine, North Dakota, where said passengers and mail would transfer to a Western Canada Airways flight for the last leg into Winnepeg. Perhaps this was the first international code share? The reason for this strange arrangement was to appease both governments. It wouldn't be until October 1935 that Northwest would actually fly into Winnipeg again.
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