NORTHWEST AIRLINES, INC.

American airline founded in 1926 as Northwest Airways, Inc., and incorporated on April 16, 1934, under its current name. Originally flying a mail route between Chicago and MinneapolisSt. Paul, Minn., the company expanded in subsequent decades to eventually include a domestic and international system radiating from Chicago, MinneapolisSt. Paul, and Seattle, Wash., to other points in the United States, Canada, the Far East, and Europe. The company's trade name is Northwest Orient. Northwest's parent holding company, NWA Incorporated, was created in a corporate reorganization in 1984. Headquarters are at MinneapolisSt. Paul International Airport. From 1928 to 1933 Northwest expanded westward, city by city, through the Dakotas, Montana, and Washington state. In 1945, after serving the U.S. government in various northern and Pacific theatres of war, the airline secured an extension of its routes eastward from MinneapolisSt. Paul to New York City, via Milwaukee and Detroit, and thereby became the nation's fourth transcontinental airlinealthough, unlike TWA, United, and American, it did not initially serve the California market. The following year Northwest was certified to fly to the Far East and began service in 1947. In 1958 it secured the lucrative Florida route from the Midwest. Northwest started service to the Benelux countries and London in 1979 and 1980, respectively. In 1982 it established routes to South America and China; the latter had not been linked directly to the United States by air in more than 30 years. In 1986 Northwest purchased Republic Airlines, Inc., thereby acquiring routes to Mexico and the Caribbean.