Northwest headquarters in Eagan, Minnesota during the year 2000 was the scene of an intense competition between Boeing and Airbus for the carrier’s long-overdue long-haul and heavy-lift fleet update. DC-10s and 747-200s needed to be phased out with something more efficient that could still carry robust loads of cargo and be at home on both the Atlantic and Pacific sides of the network.
Multiple meetings, presentations, and offers were traded over the course of the year, as NWA considered both the 777 and A330 packages. Carrier executives remarked over the year both aircraft types were viable candidates, with the 777 being over-engineered for Atlantic missions and the A330 not being able to handle all the Pacific missions.
In the end, it would come down to dollars and cents. While Boeing chased the order vigorously, Airbus had the extra advantage of pilot-training commonality with the A320 family fleet. But the decision was kept closely guarded. On January 21, 2001, NWA announced a big order for 757-300s and a top-up order for 747-400s … and a big order for A330-300s and a top-up order for A319s.
Little did anyone at the time realize the ramifications of this decision, as a decade later many of the same fleet planners would be working at Delta, who had worked through a similar math problem and chose the 777. Eventually, though, the A330 (and A350) would become the dominant long-haul type at Delta, and the COVID-19 crisis would see the 777 eliminated entirely from the DL fleet.
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