Northwest Airbus A319/320 Livery History (1989-present)

JJ Skippy

Well-known member
Hello everyone! Here’s a more familiar Livery History thread for today; the Northwest Airbus A320 family aircraft!


1 - Delivery (1989)
In June 1989, N301US was delivered to Northwest. She was fortunate enough to be equipped with the old Thermometer livery from the Orient days for a brief time.
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From what I know, 302 also had the Thermometer paint scheme; N304US would be the first to have the new paint scheme.


2 - Bowling Shoe (1989-2003)
One of Northwest’s longest lasting schemes, the Bowling Shoe became recognizable by many travelers and aviation enthusiasts alike.
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Note the little emblem just behind the NORTHWEST titles. This was to signify the partnership they had with KLM. The partnership began in 1993, and Northwest established a hub in Amsterdam, where KLM is based. They also formed an airline alliance called the Wings Alliance but it was only just the two of them.

In 1999, Northwest took delivery of their first A319, N301NB. She was christened as The City of Duluth; Duluth was home to their Airbus maintenance base at the time. They left the base in 2006.
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3 - NWA (2003-2008)
A new, simplified NWA look emerged in 2003. This A319 still bears the Northwest-KLM Worldwide Reliability sticker just aft of the NWA titles. Later photos of these Airbuses with this livery show the sticker removed.
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4 - Delta (2008-present)
Today, Delta operates the majority of Northwest’s Airbus fleet. They have retired some of the older A320s. As of writing, Delta operates 55 A319s (2 stored) and 58 A320s (3 stored).
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Hopefully you enjoyed this next Livery History thread! Me personally, I’ve flown on two of the ex-NWA A320 family aircraft; 345NB and 362NB. Have you flown on any Northwest Airbus A320 family aircraft?
 
Have flown on an A319 back in July 2009.
ORD-DTW

wearing the silver scheme... but already operating a Delta flight. Back then the merger was happening at full swing!
 
Have flown on an A319 back in July 2009.
ORD-DTW

wearing the silver scheme... but already operating a Delta flight. Back then the merger was happening at full swing!
Must’ve been fascinating to fly NWA/Delta during the merger era. I wonder if the Northwest F/As during this time wore Delta uniforms or if they kept their NWA ones until the brand name was fully retired?
 
Must’ve been fascinating to fly NWA/Delta during the merger era. I wonder if the Northwest F/As during this time wore Delta uniforms or if they kept their NWA ones until the brand name was fully retired?

I remember the catering was already Delta-branded. We had those Biscoff cookies and option for Buy-On-Board.
Can't remember the uniforms but I guess it was all Delta by then.
 
Probably a very long time. I counted to about 160 planes being handed over to Delta on a packet I printed but there is probably more than 160.
I'm pretty sure there was more than 160...the A319's, A320's, A330's, 747-400's, 757-200 and 757-300's....not to mention the DC-9's. Some of the DC-9-51's made it into Delta paint.
 
I'm pretty sure there was more than 160...the A319's, A320's, A330's, 747-400's, 757-200 and 757-300's....not to mention the DC-9's. Some of the DC-9-51's made it into Delta paint.
Yeah. There was also some 747-200's. I was using planespotters.net so maybe it just isn't a reliable source.
 
I remember those early livery examples stopping in at Glasgow-Prestwick for gas on their delivery flights from Airbus. The thermometer livery brought back memories of the late 70's and early 80's when thermometer liveried 747's were regular visitors from BOS.
 
The Delta NW merger went incredibly quickly and smoothly. Really the exterior liveries were the only slow moving items besides the Union FA issues. There was a palpable difference between NW and DL crews. The airline began painting before the merger was finalized and also operated DL/NW codeshares where aircraft routings made sense. E.g I flew an NW painted A332 FRA-ATL with an NW flight number. On the other hand, flew a DL painted DC951 ORD-MEM. Tried to get as many D95s as I could before they disappeared. Luckily for me, they moved quickly ATL operating many routes where we see 717s today.

Some side notes. 742s, DC93/4s did come over officially but we’re never painted. DC10s were retired beforehand. Got my last DC10 ride MSPAMS in the silver new livery. NW liveries lived on for quite some time in the DC9s, 319s, 320s. 757 interiors were recovered to Delta leather quickly.
 
The Delta NW merger went incredibly quickly and smoothly. Really the exterior liveries were the only slow moving items besides the Union FA issues. There was a palpable difference between NW and DL crews. The airline began painting before the merger was finalized and also operated DL/NW codeshares where aircraft routings made sense. E.g I flew an NW painted A332 FRA-ATL with an NW flight number. On the other hand, flew a DL painted DC951 ORD-MEM. Tried to get as many D95s as I could before they disappeared. Luckily for me, they moved quickly ATL operating many routes where we see 717s today.

Some side notes. 742s, DC93/4s did come over officially but we’re never painted. DC10s were retired beforehand. Got my last DC10 ride MSPAMS in the silver new livery. NW liveries lived on for quite some time in the DC9s, 319s, 320s. 757 interiors were recovered to Delta leather quickly.
Appreciate the additional info! I had known about the -30 and -40 coming over briefly without getting DL colors. Wish they had painted one into DL colors before they were gone, but they were somewhere around 30-40 years old by that point.
 
The 30s and 40s stuck around mostly DTW and MSP while the 50s quickly migrated to ATL. I logged quite a few 50s ATL-MCI/VPS/MEM/ORD. 50s got the full repaint and blue leather seat cover and were largely operated interchangeably with the 88s. Delta/NW was and is still the go to for fleet diversity among US carriers. While I miss the 1011, 727, DC9, 747, it’s actually pretty cool that in 2023 one airline operates the following: 221,223,319,320,321,321neo,717,738,739,752,753,763,764,332,333,359. Now with ex-Gol, Lionair and Latam versions for diversity as well. Otherwise only United comes close!
 
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