Northwest Airlines Retires the DC-10
18 years 2 weeks ago #3163
by SPA118
Eric M. Eder, SPA118
Miami Hub Manager
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Proudly Serving Since September 2004
Northwest Airlines Retires the DC-10 was created by SPA118
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www.flickr.com/photos/nwa/sets/72157594467334386/
On January 8, 2006 a Northwest DC-10 blocked into MSP at approximately 5:35 am, marking the retirement of this aircraft type from scheduled service. NWA employees, retirees and passengers celebrated the event and captured the proceedings in photos.
As it has done in its international schedule, NWA will replace the DC-10 with the A330 on the MSP-HNL route. Northwest retired its last DC-10 from international service on October 29, 2006, when it began operating its entire trans-Atlantic schedule with A330s. With an average fleet age of just two years, Northwest’s A330s are one of the youngest trans-Atlantic fleets in the airline industry. The airline has an additional eight aircraft on order, scheduled for delivery between now and the end of the year. Northwest began taking delivery of new Airbus A330 aircraft in Aug. 2003 and currently has 24 aircraft in trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, intra-Asia and beginning today, mainland U.S.-Hawaii service. Its A330 fleet includes 13 298-seat A330-300s, and 11 longer-range, 243-seat A330-200s.
Northwest flew its first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 1972, part of an order we placed in 1968 for 22 new airplanes. We were one of a small number of airlines to fly the -40 version of the DC-10 because it fit our route structure and fleet, giving us a competitive advantage in range, operational costs and maintenance efficiency as it used the same engines as we used on our Boeing 747s.
The first route for the 236-passenger aircraft was flight number 702 from the Twin Cities to Milwaukee and on to Tampa, Florida.
In 1991, we began operating a new type of DC-10, the 273-seat DC-10-30, which we have used primarily for trans-Atlantic service. Northwest’s DC-10 fleet peaked in size at 45 aircraft in 2001, consisting of 21 DC-10-40s and 24 DC-10-30s. Not long after that, however, we began retiring some of our DC-10s, beginning with the -40s that were all phased out of the fleet by 2002.
All together, 446 DC-10s of various types were built by McDonnell Douglas between 1968 and 1989. After completing their last scheduled flights, our remaining DC-10s will be used for charter service during January, 2007.
Over their 34 years of service, Northwest's DC-10s compiled a remarkable service record, completing more than 765,000 flights and covering more than 1.3 billion miles in the air, enough to travel to Jupiter and back – twice! – with enough left over to make sidetrips to Venus and Mars! Northwest DC-10s have carried more than 125,000,000 passengers and logged more than 2.5 million hours aloft.
On January 8, 2006 a Northwest DC-10 blocked into MSP at approximately 5:35 am, marking the retirement of this aircraft type from scheduled service. NWA employees, retirees and passengers celebrated the event and captured the proceedings in photos.
As it has done in its international schedule, NWA will replace the DC-10 with the A330 on the MSP-HNL route. Northwest retired its last DC-10 from international service on October 29, 2006, when it began operating its entire trans-Atlantic schedule with A330s. With an average fleet age of just two years, Northwest’s A330s are one of the youngest trans-Atlantic fleets in the airline industry. The airline has an additional eight aircraft on order, scheduled for delivery between now and the end of the year. Northwest began taking delivery of new Airbus A330 aircraft in Aug. 2003 and currently has 24 aircraft in trans-Atlantic, trans-Pacific, intra-Asia and beginning today, mainland U.S.-Hawaii service. Its A330 fleet includes 13 298-seat A330-300s, and 11 longer-range, 243-seat A330-200s.
Northwest flew its first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 1972, part of an order we placed in 1968 for 22 new airplanes. We were one of a small number of airlines to fly the -40 version of the DC-10 because it fit our route structure and fleet, giving us a competitive advantage in range, operational costs and maintenance efficiency as it used the same engines as we used on our Boeing 747s.
The first route for the 236-passenger aircraft was flight number 702 from the Twin Cities to Milwaukee and on to Tampa, Florida.
In 1991, we began operating a new type of DC-10, the 273-seat DC-10-30, which we have used primarily for trans-Atlantic service. Northwest’s DC-10 fleet peaked in size at 45 aircraft in 2001, consisting of 21 DC-10-40s and 24 DC-10-30s. Not long after that, however, we began retiring some of our DC-10s, beginning with the -40s that were all phased out of the fleet by 2002.
All together, 446 DC-10s of various types were built by McDonnell Douglas between 1968 and 1989. After completing their last scheduled flights, our remaining DC-10s will be used for charter service during January, 2007.
Over their 34 years of service, Northwest's DC-10s compiled a remarkable service record, completing more than 765,000 flights and covering more than 1.3 billion miles in the air, enough to travel to Jupiter and back – twice! – with enough left over to make sidetrips to Venus and Mars! Northwest DC-10s have carried more than 125,000,000 passengers and logged more than 2.5 million hours aloft.
Eric M. Eder, SPA118
Miami Hub Manager
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Proudly Serving Since September 2004
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