Goodbye Northwest

For those of you who might have missed it, the Delta/Northwest merger has been completed and the airline is flying under a single operating certificate now. The NWA website no longer exists (it redirects to delta.com) and it's getting harder to spot Northwest planes as more and more are repainted in Delta colours.

On my return flight from Atlanta last week, I was fortunate to fly on N671US, the last 747 in Northwest's scheme. According to Airliners.net, it is now being repainted at Victorville airport in California, which means the end of that familiar red tail on 747s in Narita.

I've been flying NW for well over 10 years as they were usually cheaper than Air Canada and offered reasonable connections through Detroit. I've always found them to be a decent airline, although these 747s could use some refurbishments on the inside as well, particularly with the addition of personal video systems. It's sad to see them go, but so far Delta has been similar in service, so we'll see how things go.

For now, here's a picture of the last NWA 747, before flying ATL-NRT on February 1st, 2010.

Best,

Sean