NWAC Northwest Airlines (MM)

Northwest Airlines Exercises Options for 15 Additional Bombardier CRJ200 Regional Jets Selects Mesaba Airlines to Operate Aircraft MINNEAPOLIS, April 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Northwest Airlines (NASDAQ:NWAC) today announced that it has exercised options for 15 additional Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ). Deliveries are scheduled to begin in September of this year. Northwest selected Mesaba Airlines to operate the 15 aircraft under the terms of a non-binding letter of intent. Mesaba also was given exclusive rights to operate an additional 20 CRJs should Northwest elect to exercise additional options. "As Northwest seeks to operate its regional fleet as efficiently and cost- effectively as possible, the company has always kept open the possibility for a second partner to operate CRJs," said Tom Bach, vice president, market planning and Airlink. "We look forward to an expanded relationship with Mesaba." The letter of intent contemplates that Mesaba, a Northwest Airlink partner, will lease the 50-seat CRJs from Northwest and will continue to operate its existing Avro RJ85 and Saab 340 fleet on behalf of Northwest. Northwest Airlines is the world's fourth largest airline with hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Memphis, Tokyo and Amsterdam, and approximately 1,500 daily departures. Northwest is a member of SkyTeam, an airline alliance that offers customers one of the world's most extensive global networks. Northwest and its travel partners serve more than 900 cities in excess of 160 countries on six continents. DATASOURCE: Northwest Airlines CONTACT: Northwest Airlines Media Relations, +1-612-726-2331 Web site: http://www.nwa.com/

Copyright