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Northwest Airlines, the first private carrier to operate in Korea, will pass into history early next month. According to Northwest Korea office on Tuesday, once a merger with Delta Airlines that began in April this year is completed early next month, the Northwest name will no longer be used and the merged companies will operate under the Delta brand.
Northwest has a long history with Korea, being the first carrier to start operating here in July 1947. The company started with a 96-seater DC-4 that flew between Korea and the United States. The primary passengers were U.S. soldiers returning to the U.S. or back from vacation. It took 40 hours to get to the U.S. from Korea, and cost US$ 1,000 at a time when Korea¡¯s GDP per person was a mere $60.
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President Park Chung-hee shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Korea Samuel Berger before leaving for the U.S. on a Northwest Airlines flight to attend the memorial for president John F. Kennedy in November 1963. /Courtesy of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.
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Korea¡¯s first national carrier, Korea National Airlines, began operating domestic flights from 1948 and the first international flight that connected Seoul, Taipei and Hong Kong in 1954. The first domestic private carrier, Korean Air, was established in 1969.
President Park Chung-hee always used Northwest when he visited the U.S. from 1961 until the 1970s. Park at one stage had trouble getting a seat because the company refused to lend an airplane to a regime formed by a coup.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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