History
Like its network carrier peers, Northwest Airlines through the 1990s and 2000s was constrained in its capacity and schedule planning by “scope clause” language in its pilots’ contracts, which are drafted to protect mainline jobs by ensuring an airline’s flying is not contracted to non-company staff. At NWA, this union was the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), and any student of Northwest history would know that labor-management relations between these groups had been contentious over the last several decades.
In the post-9/11/2001 environment, NWA again sought to bring on more 70-100 seat aircraft to replace its aging Douglas DC-9 fleet and add frequencies. By mid-decade, after an unsuccessful labor strike by the mechanics’ union and the company going into bankruptcy, ALPA agreed to concessions to allow more 76-seat aircraft to be flown by a subcontractor regional airline, in exchange for guarantees that pilots of these new aircraft could “flow up” into mainline jobs at Northwest – and that if Northwest were to furlough mainline pilots, those people could “flow down” into the subcontractor’s fleet.
At a subcontractor carrier, not only would pilots’ wages be lower than mainline, but also cabin service staff, mechanics, and support staff. In the mid-2000s, Northwest was using Mesaba Airlines and Pinnacle (the former Express I) as its Airlink jet partners, but to keep leverage over these companies, NWA bought the operating certificate of bankrupt Independence Air on March 10, 2006 for $2 million. During the concept phase, the subsidiary was known as “NewCo”. Northwest eventually decided that each carrier would specialize in different equipment: Pinnacle would handle the 50-seat CRJ regional jet; Mesaba would handle Saab 340 turboprops and CRJs (phasing out its 85-seat Avro Regional Jets); and the new Compass would take on new Embraer 175s, outfitted with 76 seats.
On September 28, 2006, Compass Airlines (IATA code CP) officially received approval from the US Department of Transportation to begin operations. On April 5, 2007, Compass Airlines received FAA certification to begin commercial passenger operations. Starting with one CRJ-200 (N601XJ leased from Mesaba) on May 2 of that year with a Minneapolis – Washington DC route, the company would add the Embraer 175 in August and expand in earnest, operating 36 of the craft for Northwest at the time of the merger with Delta.
CP’s route system was frequently adjusted as Northwest used the range and cabin comfort of the E-175 to pioneer new routes and flex capacity seasonally, sometimes upgrading for a smaller CRJ, or substituting for DC-9 or even Airbus A319 mainline equipment. Compass did serve all three main NWA hubs, and over time came to be the main lift provider into some regions like Montana as well as stations like San Antonio and Chicago Midway. CP sited its maintenance base at Louisville, Kentucky – that station was usually linked to all three hubs for easy fleet scheduling.
After the merger, Delta decided to sell the Compass operation in July 2010 to Trans States Holdings (owner of Trans States Airlines and GoJet), although the company remained headquartered in Minneapolis and kept its Northwest-inspired logo. CP eventually supported Delta’s hubs at MSP, Detroit, and Seattle. The carrier had a good reputation among pilots as being well-run and an effective place to build experience before being hired by mainline operators. In 2015, Compass won a contract with American to fly Embraers to support its Los Angeles focus operation. By 2017, the airline stretched from Newark to Alaska to Mazatlan:
However, in August 2019 Delta consolidated its Connection partnerships and Compass’ contract was cancelled – all flying for DL was finished at April 1, 2020, and its Delta-owned E-175 jets were reallocated to Endeavor Air, Skywest, and Republic Airways. With its fleet cut by more than half, crew bases in Phoenix and Seattle were closed, but even these layoffs could not offset ongoing operational and overhead costs for the American contract in the face of the COVID-19 traffic collapse. Compass’ last flight landed on April 5, 2020.
Route Maps
The maps in this listing cover the Northwest years – if you have CP-issued materials showing maps from the Delta/American era, we would be happy to add them!
Timetables
CP did not issue any schedules on its own behalf – in Northwest’s timetables one could look for the E75 equipment code to see which flights it operated.
Aircraft
Compass was the sole Embraer 175 regional jet operator for Northwest. This was also the only aircraft used on its contracts for Delta and American. (E170 and E175 versions.)
Financial / Annual Reports
Compass’ operation was owned 100% by Northwest during its Airlink years, so its figures are included in NWA financial reporting.
Operations
Employee Newsletters
We are very interested in acquiring any Compass staff publications – please contact us if you have anything to contribute!
The Compass Airlines employee blog is still active (as of April 2024).
