Northwest Airlink is the trade name of Northwest Airlines' regional airline service, which flies turboprop and regional jet aircraft from Northwest's domestic hubs in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Memphis. Since Northwest Airlines was acquired by Delta Air Lines in October 2008, Northwest Air Link is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines. Service is primarily to small-to-medium sized cities and towns where larger aircraft might not be economical to operate and also to larger markets to either provide additional capacity or more frequent flights than could be justified using mainline aircraft.
Northwest Airlink service is operated using 34-seat Saab 340 turboprops and 50-seat CRJ200 aircraft in a single class of service. Mesaba Airlines and Compass Airlines recently began operating Bombardier CRJ-900s and Embraer E-175s, respectively. Both aircraft are operated in a 76-seat, two-class configuration.
The service is operated by three separate companies:
Pinnacle Airlines (an independent company) operates the CRJ200 throughout the United States.
Compass Airlines (a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines) operates Northwest Airlink service to a few destinations, but soon will expand to flying around the United States. It was formed using the operating certificate previously held by Independence Air. Compass flies new Embraer 175 aircraft.
A Northwest Airlink at Raleigh Durham International Airport after landing from Memphis International Airport.
Incidents and accidents
March 4, 1987: Northwest Airlink Flight 2268, operating under Fischer Brothers Aviation, a CASA 212 was on a scheduled flight from Mansfield to Detroit with an intermediate stop in Cleveland when it crashed while landing at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. The plane yawed violently to the left about 70 feet above the runway, skidded to the right, hit 3 ground support vehicles in front of Concourse F and caught fire. Out of 19 occupants onboard (16 passengers and 3 crew)), 9 were killed. The cause of the crash was determined to be pilot error. 1
December 1, 1993: Northwest Airlink 5719 being operated by Express Airlines II, a Jetstream 31, was flying a scheduled flight from Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport to International Falls with an enroute stop in Hibbing when it crashed while approaching for landing at Chisholm-Hibbing Airport. The plane descended struck the tops of trees and then two ridges and came to rest inverted on its right side. All 18 occupants (16 passengers and 2 crew) died. The cause of the crash was the lack of crew-coordination and loss of awareness of the altitude during a night instrument landing.2
Pinnacle Airlines Flight 3701 was a Bombardier CRJ200 with a crew of two operating a ferry flight (with no passengers) from Little Rock, AR to Minneapolis, MN. It crashed on October 14, 2004 in a residential area in Jefferson City, MO due to the flight crew pushing the plane past its capabilities and ignoring warnings. The NTSB has since finished its investigation of the accident.3
