Tailing The Red Tail of Northwest Airlines (Part 1)

airline market came in the 1970's. Airlines no longer had to petition the government to begin or end service to a city. Many upstart airlines would come and established airlines had to learn to adapt.

In 1979 Northwest begins trans-Atlantic flights. Cargo service to New York, Boston, Glasgow, Scotland begins in February. In March trans-Atlantic passenger service begins by joining Copenhagen, Denmark, and Stockholm, Sweden, to the Twin Cities, Detroit, and New York.

In May 1984 Northwest resumes service to China after a 35-year hiatus. Seattle, Tokyo, and Shanghai are serviced with this resumption. On May 21 Northwest shareholders approve the creation of NWA Inc., a Delaware corporation, as the holding company for Northwest Airlines. In December Northwest and Mesaba Airlines announce a regional airline marketing partnership to create Northwest Airlink.

In 1986 Northwest would purchase Republic airlines. Unfortunately, the mallard duck that was on Republics tail does not get resurrected in the deal (the mallard had been removed from Republic's tails when Republic redid its livery).

On 28 January 1988 Milwaukee becomes the fourth domestic hub. In March Northwest WorldVacations is introduced. To keep the skies clean (as well as the cabins), Northwest becomes the first major American airline to ban smoking on all North American flights on April 23. On June 21 Northwest begins a test of Airvision. This was the first airborne video system and offered passengers six channels of video programming on personal screens.

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