NW announces Europe Expansion, improves 757's.

[chrisburns]

In a major expansion of its trans-Atlantic service, Northwest will introduce new flights from Detroit to Brussels, Belgium and Düsseldorf, Germany, as well as the first and only nonstop service between Hartford, Conn., and Amsterdam.

Northwest, in cooperation with its joint venture partner, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, will also add more flights in the Detroit – Amsterdam and Boston – Amsterdam markets.

“Northwest’s new service will conveniently connect Detroit and the Heartland of America to more of Europe’s top business and leisure destinations and provide additional service from the East Coast to the Northwest/KLM European hub at Amsterdam,” Doug Steenland said at a news conference today in Detroit.

Northwest’s new flights between the United States and Europe will be operated with Boeing 757-200 aircraft. The aircraft are being fitted with “winglets,” or extensions of the aircraft wing, that improve the fuel efficiency of the 757 and in doing so, also extend its range.

Inside the aircraft, Northwest is making several improvements to the fleet dedicated to this new service in order to provide trans-Atlantic customers with a comfortable travel experience.

The World Business Class cabin will be configured with 16 new seats in a two-aisle-two arrangement. The World Business Class seat will provide five feet (1.5 meters) of personal space. The seat will have many features including a four-way movable headrest, laptop computer power port, snake reading light, extendable foot rest and lumbar support, among other comforts.

World Business Class customers will be provided with a portable in-flight entertainment system with a wide variety of 40 movies, four short-subject videos, 16 music programs, 40 compact discs of music and six games to choose from, all available on-demand, so they can choose and play their entertainment when it fits their needs.

The coach class cabin will be equipped with 144 seats, configured in a three-aisle-three arrangement. The “pitch,” or distance between rows, is being increased up to four inches, providing additional legroom and comfort.

Two New Destinations from Detroit

Northwest will complement its existing service to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, London and Paris by offering new flights to:

* Brussels, beginning May 7, 2007, initiating Northwest’s first nonstop service to Belgium, and,

* Düsseldorf, beginning June 5, 2007, marking Northwest’s first nonstop service in the market and its second destination in Germany, complementing its existing Detroit – Frankfurt service.

“Brussels and Düsseldorf are among the most popular European destinations for business and leisure travelers that currently do not enjoy nonstop service from our WorldGateway at Detroit hub,” said Phil Haan, executive vice president – international, alliances and information technology and chairman of NWA Cargo. “The 160-seat 757 also allows us to offer service in these new markets now, as well as provide our customers with more choices through additional frequencies in existing markets.”

Travelers will be able to make convenient connections through Detroit from more than 146 cities in North America served by Northwest and Northwest Airlink.

Unlike some of its competitors’ hubs, all of Northwest’s domestic and international flights at Detroit are conveniently located in one terminal. In addition, customers traveling through Northwest’s WorldGateway at Detroit hub enjoy a seamless facility experience, regardless of whether they are flying on a 400-seat 747-400 or a 50-seat regional jet.

The WorldGateway was built with many other features and comforts specifically in response to the requests and preferences of travelers, all of which make it a more convenient and comfortable place to make a connection.

Northwest and its Northwest Airlink partners currently offer 507 flights per day from Detroit to 124 domestic and 29 international destinations worldwide.

New Hartford – Amsterdam Service

Northwest also announced that beginning July 1, 2007, it will make Hartford its 18th gateway to Europe through its Amsterdam hub. The daily service will provide the first and only nonstop flight connecting Hartford travelers with one of Europe’s most popular business and leisure destinations, and establish Hartford’s only nonstop trans-Atlantic service.

Through its Amsterdam hub, Northwest and KLM connect North America to Europe through daily service from Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston (Intercontinental), Los Angeles, Memphis, Tenn., Mexico City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Montreal, New York (JFK), Newark, San Francisco, Seattle, Toronto, Vancouver, British Columbia and Washington D.C.

Joint Venture Service with KLM

As another part of its European expansion, Northwest and KLM announced that they will double the number of daily flights offered between both Amsterdam and Boston from one to two, as well as add a fifth frequency between Detroit and Amsterdam in the peak summer season and a fourth frequency during the winter, providing travelers with a greater schedule of flights to choose.

In addition, Northwest/KLM will offer a third daily frequency from New York (JFK) to Amsterdam, operated by KLM. This additional flight is made possible by Northwest operating the existing service from Newark to Amsterdam, which was previously operated by KLM.

KLM/Northwest also announced that it was adding up to five extra weekly frequencies between Amsterdam and Los Angeles and Toronto.

Northwest/KLM’s new daily frequencies between Detroit and Amsterdam will begin June 15, 2007, its second daily flight between Amsterdam and Boston will begin July 15, 2007, and changes to Northwest/KLM’s Newark and New York flight schedules will occur July 1, 2007.

Northwest’s new Detroit-Brussels and Detroit-Düsseldorf flights will initially operate five days per week. Beginning June 15, 2007, all of the flights will be offered on a daily basis.

There you have it, also NW will be changing its WBC in 2008 with the introduction of the 787.

[rich7271]

I'm sure I remember people saying that the BDL-AMS route would never go ahead but it look like it will! I wish them luck on their new services.

Rich

[DAL767-400ER]

Interesting routes. Will sure be interesting to see how DUS will perform flight-wise. The route is 69mi longer than EWR-TXL, and CO on a more or less regular basis has to restrict cargo on the westbound flight to make it to EWR.

[chrisburns]

Interesting routes. Will sure be interesting to see how DUS will perform flight-wise. The route is 69mi longer than EWR-TXL, and CO on a more or less regular basis has to restrict cargo on the westbound flight to make it to EWR.

PW engines are 1000 pounds lighter each, NW since it will have large legroom in coach will be 2500 lbs lighter due to 12 less seats in coach then CO, and the PW engines have less fuel burn the the RR. Thus combines ad's a lot of flying time, and CO's EWR-TXL flight is only 10 minutes shorter then NW's DTW-DUS.

[MaxPower]

Congratulations to our european spotters. Lucky SOB's. I wished there was a good markert for NW as well to Scandinavia.

What competitors (airlines) are also on these new routes ? I wish them good luck on these routes..

[seahawk]

I did wet my pants as I read about the NW 757WL at DUS.

[BA747-436]

mmmm gota love flying long haul on a 757. lol

[CathayPacific]

Is this the only trans-Atlantic from Hartford?

[DAL767-400ER]

Is this the only trans-Atlantic from Hartford?

So far, yes, though the rumor about BDL-CDG on DL 757s starting in 2008 won't die down.

[uy707]

The day's surprise goes to Hartford-AMS & vv. Good pick, should make a hit especially with the business travellers going to visit United Technologies and who are fed up to drive from Boston ....
Alain

[chrisburns]

mmmm gota love flying long haul on a 757. lol

They will have more room in them then an A330, 747, 767, 777 and the likes. NW's 757's accross the pond will be just like UA's Premium Service aircraft, all coach seats will have the same leg room as E+

[uy707]

Good to read they never forgot the days of the 707s
Alain

[BA747-436]

And they will be 3 class aircraft with PTV's throughout will they?

Im just not a fan of flying an aircraft designed for mid-short haul opps over the Atlantic on 7+ hour segments. I've done it before and it was not pleasent.

Not to mention the lack of sleeper seats in J. Unless they plan to kit them out in Intl config and keep a certain few 757's on these routes only, not letting them run on the domestic routes. Otherwise i imagine they will just use the standard config 757's they run back and forth domestic to run these 7 hour trans-atlantics.

[chrisburns]

And they will be 3 class aircraft with PTV's throughout will they?

Im just not a fan of flying an aircraft designed for mid-short haul opps over the Atlantic on 7+ hour segments. I've done it before and it was not pleasent.

Not to mention the lack of sleeper seats in J. Unless they plan to kit them out in Intl config and keep a certain few 757's on these routes only, not letting them run on the domestic routes. Otherwise i imagine they will just use the standard config 757's they run back and forth domestic to run these 7 hour trans-atlantics.

3 Class no, i was referring to the coach pitch vs. such.

Anyway, they will have 5 feet of personal space in FC with a new WBC seat that is somewhat like those on the A330's, just not the same due to weight. They will now have 144 seats in coach instead of 160 (normal domestic) these aircraft will be for international flights only have 16 seats in FC, and 144 in back. Currently those planes are configured 22 FC and 160-162 in coach. The 757 was designed for medium hall flights, and BOS-AMS is around the same time as MSP-ANC or more so even DTW-ANC and the likes.

[ATrude777]

Say what you want about the 757, this is a huge improvement over what AA would be doing to their own 757 currently in flight now.

Good to NWA for providing a good service and room space for the 757.

I wish AA would give more room or something on their 757's for intl flights such as those.

Alex