NWA unveils jet fleet additions
MINNEAPOLIS — Northwest Airlines is upgrading its regional jet fleet, with the first of its new jets set to begin hauling passengers on Thursday.
Northwest is adding a total of 72 new 76-seat jets. Half will be Bombardier CRJ-900s flown by Northwest’s Mesaba subsidiary and the other half will be Embraer EMB-175s flown by its new Compass subsidiary. Both jets include a dozen first-class seats, and the cabin is roomier than on Northwest’s other regional jets.
Northwest’s first Bombardier CRJ-900 will fly between Minneapolis, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago Midway and Fargo, N.D., beginning on Thursday. Northwest is hoping to use its new 76-seat jets on routes that won’t fill a DC-9 but are too large for its 50-seat CRJ-200s.
Northwest, which emerged from bankruptcy protection last week, hopes to have roughly a dozen of each of the new planes flying by the end of this year.
