NORTHWEST AIRLINES

HISTORY: NORTHWEST AIRLINES was founded on September 1, 1926, by Colonel Lewis Brittin, under the name Northwest Airways, a reference to the historical name for the Midwestern United States that derived from the Northwest Territory. In 1934 Northwest Airways, Inc. changed its name to Northwest Airlines, Inc. and the airline was incorporated under its new name in the State of Minnesota. With transpacific flights established, Northwest began to advertise itself as Northwest Orient Airlines, although its registered corporate name remained "Northwest Airlines." On October 1, 1986, Northwest merged with Republic Airlines, also based in Minneapolis-St. Paul. Also in 1993, Northwest began its strategic alliance with KLM, which was the largest airline partnership until then. On January 31, 2010, Delta completed the merge of the reservation systems and discontinued using the Northwest name for flights. The official last Northwest flight was NW2470 from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.