Taking advantage of the new US Open Skies agreement, Northwest Airlines (NWA) has announced the start of its first flights from London Heathrow.
The new services are being jointly marketed by Northwest and fellow Skyteam alliance member KLM and cover flights to Detroit, Minneapolis and Seattle.
Flights get under way on March 30 next year and will utilise Heathrow’s T4, which will become Skyteam’s base at the capital’s leading airport. Northwest will, however, continue to operate its current service from Gatwick.
The expansion of NWA’s transatlantic route network will connect Heathrow with more than 250 destinations in the US. Doug Steenland, president and CEO of Northwest, says: “Our Detroit and Minneapolis/St Paul hubs are the most efficient and uncongested airports in the US and, together with our Seattle gateway, will link Heathrow to every point in America.”
The first route to be introduced will be Heathrow-Minneapolis, which will start on March 30. Flight NW103 will depart London at 1425, arriving at 1725, while the return service NW104 (from March 29) will leave Minneapolis at 2145 and reach Heathrow at 1215 the following day.
Flights to Detroit are set to begin from May 2 – NW101 will depart Heathrow at 0850, arriving at Detroit at 1230, and flight NW102 (from May 1) will leave Detroit at 1750, arriving into Heathrow at 0705 the next day.
From June 2, flight NW105 will depart Heathrow at 1830, arriving into Seattle at 2055, while flight NW106 (from June 1) will leave Seattle at 2220, arriving into Heathrow at 1615.
The new routes will be served by A330s, which will all be equipped with 34 business class seats (176-degree angled lie-flat with privacy canopy) and 264 economy class seats.
The business class offering will also include 1.5 metres of space between seats, 110-volt laptop power port, cycling lumbar support, a six-way adjustable headrest, and on-demand IFE systems in both cabins.
Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines formed a joint venture partnership in 1991, and since then codesharing has been implemented on flights to 59 European destinations and 176 US cities.
For more information visit klm.com, nwa.com. Click here for a full report on the latest Open Skies developments.
Report by Jenny Southan
