The Wings Alliance - The KLM/Northwest Partnership

Подписаться 125 тыс.

Просмотров 29 тыс.

50% 1

Howdy! :D
During the 1990s, in order to stave off bankruptcy and help to expand their influence, the unlikely partners of KLM and Northwest Airlines joined forces to create the first modern airline alliance known informally as the Wings Alliance, the business model of which set the precedent for future airline alliances such as Skyteam, Oneworld and Star Alliance, although due to a controversial attempt to tie up with Alitalia, the resulting fallout would lead to the Wings Alliance project collapsing in a whirlwind of costly litigation.
All video content and images in this production have been provided with permission wherever possible. While I endeavour to ensure that all accreditations properly name the original creator, some of my sources do not list them as they are usually provided by other, unrelated RU-vidrs. Therefore, if I have mistakenly put the accreditation of 'Unknown', and you are aware of the original creator, please send me a personal message at my Gmail (this is more effective than comments as I am often unable to read all of them): rorymacveigh@gmail.com
The views and opinions expressed in this video are my personal appraisal and are not the views and opinions of any of these individuals or bodies who have kindly supplied me with footage and images.
If you enjoyed this video, why not leave a like, and consider subscribing for more great content coming soon.
Press the Join button to get access to new videos a week ahead of schedule by becoming a channel member for just £2.99 a month!
Paypal: paypal.me/rory...
Ko-Fi: ko-fi.com/rory...
Thanks again, everyone, and enjoy! :D
References:
Flightglobal (and their respective references)
Northwest Airlines History (and their respective references)
Wikipedia (and its respective references)

Опубликовано:

4 окт 2024

Ссылка:

Скачать:

Готовим ссылку...

Добавить в:

Мой плейлист

Посмотреть позже

Комментарии : 72

@MrJimheeren 2 года назад

Till this very day. The Northwest Airlines livery of the 90s is as the most beautiful of all. I remember going to Schiphol with my father and brother just to watch the planes go by and many of them where the DC10s and 747s of NWA

@justinstuart2202 6 дней назад

It’s good but I think I like the battleship United better. They are close though I do love the northwest red livery

@naughtiusmaximus830 2 года назад

Northwest ran a really old fleet. They clearly had good maintenance and knew what they were doing. I was on a 40 year old 727 that was really scary but they never had a problem.

@erik_griswold Год назад

You were never on a 40 year old 727.

@naughtiusmaximus830 Год назад

@@erik_griswold Early 2000’s.

@erik_griswold Год назад

@@naughtiusmaximus830 They were in production until 1984.

@davidcarroll8735 Год назад

First commercial flight February 4, 1964 and Its last commercial passenger flight was in January 2019. There are some still in the fire service and private use.

@GamingRailfanner 7 месяцев назад

@@erik_griswoldthats "production" not "service"

@dss3_fan347 2 года назад

Such a beautiful livery on the DC-10

@FitzArias 7 месяцев назад

My late boss used to say that "a chain is as strong as its weakest link." And AZ is an example of that as it brought down the Wings Alliance. I started working at my local airport in 2001 and I can still remember how these alliances came and went, with then CO having no alliance, only to become part of Skyteam, and later become part of the Star Alliance, by which time the UA/CO merger was announced. Very good subject Ruaridh, thank you.

@barrydysert2974 2 года назад

i haven't flown this century and i haven't been paying attention for at least a decade. i wondered where the old airline names i used to know had gone. Thanks for bringing me up to speed !:-)

@persjofors2586 2 года назад

I’m based in L.A. and mostly used KLM for Europe trips and NWA for Asia and domestic. In between the two, for about 14 years I did around 350k miles a year with them. Always in business or first. They treated me very well. It was a sad day when NWA filed for chapter 11 and was consequently bought by Delta.

@atatexan Год назад

Another wonderfully researched documentary well-told🎉

@Delta_NWAB747fan Год назад

My dad's side of the family is Dutch and Norwegian. I'll have to ask if he flew on the DC-10 with the livery, but he saw it in person 2 or 3 times most definitely. We live in the Detroit area, so we had Northwest as our airline until Delta bought them and remodeled the terminal. I sadly never saw the aircraft, but my dad know I loved NWA for the short time I flew on them. Also, my Opa (Dutch for Grandpa) was a frequent flyer on Northwest and my Oma worked for KLM back in the day. My Opa kept an Old Northwest Orient metal spoon and it's sitting in my kitchen now. By modern standards Northwest was average, but since I've been spoiled by Delta I look back and see Northwest was perfect the way it was, because it didn't need to be anything more than that. I'm glad to have been a very very *very* tiny part of its history!

@RobbertsTravelGuides 2 года назад

Crazy how many airlines we have lost along the years. absolutely nuts

@nicholasmackenzie-rowe68 2 года назад

I could make many videos about how many UK charter airlines have come and gone. I only need to look at my childhood model aircraft collection to see how many. Monarch were the saddest recent loss.

@FireAngelZero 2 года назад

I would love to see an episode on Alitalia, the rise and fall and maybe covering the start of ITA’s takeover once Alitalia went bust…

@nicholasmackenzie-rowe68 2 года назад

It is essentially the same company. You cannot kill Alitalia. Alitalia stopped being Alitalia one day and ITA carried on doing the same thing the next day. ITA even had to buy the brand name to start flying as almost all the planes had Alitalia livery and the staff wore Alitalia uniform. The only reason Alitalia doesn't still exist in name is EU rules.

@FireAngelZero 2 года назад

@@nicholasmackenzie-rowe68 good to know! Thanks for that! I flew Alitalia many times and was devastated when I heard they were ceasing operations. But glad to hear it’s only by name.

@nicholasmackenzie-rowe68 2 года назад

@@FireAngelZero There I'd even talk of the name and livery returning because the brand recognisably Italian and the culture is popular. Their business class was excellent for example. Italians won't put up with bad food, and the Richard Ginori plates are gorgeous.

@Tropic101x Год назад

Oh I remember that alliance, back then, it was such a massive deal. It was TV and everything.

@LMays-cu2hp Год назад

Thank you for sharing the history of our industry.

@NielMalan Год назад

I flew KLM/NWA on my first major international trip. Good memories.

@carsyoungtimerfreak1149 Год назад

Thank you. I am Dutch and used to fly Northwest/KLM for business. To me the KLM/Alitalia failure is one more example of the fact that North- and South Europe do not work well together. The cultures are very, very different both in personal life and in business life. We see this in the EU as well.

@wmalden 2 года назад

I lived in the Twin Cities as a boy in the late 1960’s and remember the endless radio ads for “Northwest Orient (gong sounds) Airlines.

@tommyholden602 2 года назад

Can't forget about Pan Am / NWA / KLM trying to merge in 1989. Need a video on this topic alone.

@MasterDieselMarine Год назад

My father flew for northwest for 38 years, starting on the 707, 727, DC10, and finally the 747-200-400

@tungdphg6711 2 года назад

Amazing video as always! I hope you will make a video about the Qualiflyer group alliance soon

@GorgeDawes Год назад

It seems the management of KLM never learn any lessons from dealing with Italians. Another partnership with Alitalia from 2009-17 was once again a costly failure and just this year it was announced that Air France/KLM is looking to invest in ITA Airways, the phoenix company rising from the ashes of Alitalia. One has to admire the spirit of optimism, I suppose……

@ITAviation1 Год назад

Maybe third time is the lucky one? Since Alitalia is dead (technically ITA owns the Alitalia brand) and the Italian state looking to offload Alitalia/ITA, maybe this time an AF/KLM partnership can work out.

@cykablyatman6242 2 года назад

could you do a video on how american and british railroads/railways did merges differently and what their pros/cons/long term success and failures were? i don't think we've seen a video on that done, and you're the guy for it!

@nicholasmackenzie-rowe68 2 года назад

People don't watch 24 hour long videos, if you get my point there.

@yengsabio5315 2 года назад

Howdy! Lots'a love, cheers, & Mabuhay, from tropical Philippines!

@torgeirbrandsnes1916 2 года назад

Great vlog as always! What happend to Braathens S.A.F.E.? Fun fact: When KL and BU became partners in Wings KL moved all the heavy maintenance on 737 from AMS to BUs tech hub at SVG. Most of the 737 users around the world knows that BU is the at top when it comes to know how on Fokker F-27, F-28 and Boeing 737s. In Norway most of the airlines had been started by ship owners, so also Braathens in 1946. You have do your own reading on this. When Wings crash landed so did BU. They were bought by SAS at the same time and merged by 2005. SAS closed down all the maintenance at SVG. Even one airline came to CFM and said that the engine did not work. CFM had it for some time. No go. They called Boeing and asked for advice. Boeing said: ship it to BU in SVG if they can not fix it no one can. That was done and the engine was fixed in no time. NW even paid BU to fly OSL-GOT v.v. For a summers NW flew a DC-10 from MSP I think to OSL. NW bought 50 seats on a BU 737-500 to feed the MSP flight. Now you know. Keep up the good work. Be safe!

@nicholasmackenzie-rowe68 2 года назад

SAS are a disgrace from what they were. They are supposed to be 3 countries airline, but act as only one. Sweden.

@Canleaf08 Год назад

There was a time, where United / Continental operated flights were displayed twice as an UA flight number and as an CO flight number on departure boards, despite only one United plane was sent to TXL (Tegel). I think that was around the 2012s. The CO/UA merger took a long time to complete, leaving United operating on Continental's AOC. There also was another merger later: American Airlines with US Airways (which was bought up by American West Airlines years earlier).

@skylineXpert 2 года назад

Was scheduled to fly on KLM from DTW to AMS late october 02' Ended on NWA due to a HARD wind over AMS. Ancient ex-Swiss DC10 probably

@uncinarynin 2 года назад

When was Alitalia NOT in crisis? I flew with KLM/Northwest in 1998 and noticed service on NW was considerably worse than on KLM, the equipment felt worn out and the cabin food was not appealing at all. Though the alliance allowed easy through booking, the experience was certainly not consistent. Oh and I did my one and only 727 flight on the way back, from LAX to MSP. (And KLM was with 747-200 which also don't fly anymore)

@naughtiusmaximus830 2 года назад

I did Detroit to Amsterdam more times than I can remember. DC-10’s often.

@skyemalcolm Год назад

I flew on Northwest to Japan from Detroit the late 90’s/early 00’s a few times due to a corporate travel policy. At the time it did not feel if the flight attendants were the happiest bunch of folks in the air. Having flown extensively before that and occasionally after that mostly in the US and a couple times to Europe and Japan I was say they stuck out as an unhappy group vs the norm.

@Steve-xf4uv Год назад

The only thing I really remember about the Northwest/KLM alliance was that we had a terrible time getting them to pay their suppliers of which we were one at the time. Baggage handlers, bus companies, and other service suppliers all said the same thing - like pulling teeth to get paid.

@MrJimheeren 5 месяцев назад

That’s very specific. Especially because the companies never merged, just integrated lots of operations

@donnie2832 Год назад

There are still some big airlines that are not in an alliance, like Emirates, Southwest, JetBlue, Virgin, and Ryanair to name a few. Is there a reason why they won’t join one or create a new one?

@rodrigogirao8344 Год назад

9:10 VARIG used to be Brazil's largest airline, but I can't find any information that it ever was officially a flag carrier.

@visionist7 Год назад

Wonderful images. As per very usual, the passionate employees work their arses off making a company great and the greedy management do the barest minimum to absolutely fuck everybody over.

@adrianrutterford762 2 года назад

Interesting video. Thanks

@trainsmachineryldegmtrains3509 2 года назад

Interesting video, good work! 👍😎

@frankchan4272 Год назад

Some Northwest Orient assets & routes when to FedEx as know people that former Northwest are now FedEx employees & some of them retired.

@michaelpanzarella7490 Год назад

this is very well done

@OldSonyMan 2 года назад

Very interesting !

@jfv65 2 года назад

If you follow KLM and AirFrance these days it's not as stable a cooperation as it seems.

@obelic71 2 года назад

On cultural level they often headbut each other from the start. Both brought good and bad things to cooperation. Jokingly said its more like a marriage then a cooperation. Thet can't live with and without each other.

@gc7820 2 года назад

KLM brought long history of good service, engineering competency and a strong safety culture learned the hard way after the Tenerife 747 crash their pilot caused. Air Chance, sorry, Air France brought, um….., er….., some useful landing slots I guess?!?! Oh and the wine & cheese 😂

@MrJimheeren 2 года назад

@@gc7820 that and the fact that KLM was almost bankrupt in 2004 and Air France saved our asses. AF is almost 3 times the size of KLM plus the service is way better especially in business class

@GorgeDawes Год назад

KLM was in a bad way circa 2003-4, pretty much the only thing that was going to keep them from going the way of Sabena and Swissair was a merger with Air France or BA. As the video shows, the US put the kibosh on any deal with BA so Air France was really the only option.

@Andrewjg_89 Год назад

KLM were the best airline in the world but unfortunately things went so bad and many people have complained about KLM. Including the staff, flight, comfortability and more so customers service. Do we still trust KLM today.

@Taok_Productions Год назад

Mexicana De Aviación join One World in his last few years before bankrupt

@airdailyx 2 года назад

Qualiflyer was left out of this one though.

@mjc8281 2 года назад

Used to fly alot from Manchester to Boston in the 80s and 90s and at the time you couldn't fly direct so I would fly via Amsterdam until the Partnership(and KLM stopped their own flights) Northwest was by some way the worst airline I have flown across the Atlantic(although I'm told People Express was worse).

@gustavokennedy213 2 года назад

Lost of footage of the Queen of the Sky’s and DC 10 and mad dog and 727.

@thomasburke7995 Год назад

Competition breeds excellence... but the alliances between the bullies on the block and government supported airlines will have the industry forceable returning to the days of regulation by the government.