Rankings / Northwest Airlines
Last reported 2009Northwest Airlines
In 2009, its last year in the data, Northwest Airlines flew 45.6 passenger-miles per gallon of jet fuel. That's 8% worse than the all-airline figure that year. Since 2000 its figure has risen 31%.
About Northwest Airlines
Northwest was the airline of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit and Memphis, with long routes across the Pacific from Tokyo. It went through bankruptcy from 2005 to 2007 and merged into Delta in October 2008. Delta's page includes its flying from 2010 on.
- 45.6passenger-miles per gallon, 2009
- 0.214 kgCO2 per passenger-mile
- 83%of seats filled
- 90seats per flight on average
The story in the figures
Northwest Airlines' passenger-miles per gallon rose 31% between 2000 and 2009, from 34.9 to 45.6. Most of that came from the aircraft: seat-miles per gallon rose 19%, while planes ran fuller, with 76% of seat-miles filled in 2000 against 83% in 2009.
The shape of the flying changed as well: the average flight went from 110 seats to 90. In general, smaller aircraft burn more fuel per seat.
Its best year was 2008, at 45.9 passenger-miles per gallon.
Against the all-airline figure for 2009 (49.5), Northwest Airlines was 7.8% worse. On a 1,000 mile trip that works out to 214 kg of CO2 for one passenger, from burning jet fuel only.
What one seat costs the climate
CO2 for one passenger on Northwest Airlines, from burning jet fuel only.
- 107 kgover 500 miles
- 214 kgover 1,000 miles
- 428 kgover 2,000 miles
Northwest Airlines sells seats on flights operated by regional partners, mainly Endeavor Air, XJ, and CP (2). In 2009 about 14.2% of its seat-miles were flown by regionals. How much of each regional's flying belongs to Northwest Airlines is an estimate based on the hubs the regional serves. The figure for 2009 sits between 45.0 and 45.6 passenger-miles per gallon depending on how multi-airline regionals are split. See the methodology.
Northwest merged with Delta, and BTS began combining their filings in January 2010. Later years are under Delta Air Lines.
Year-by-year figures
| Year | Passenger-miles per gallon | kg CO2 per passenger-mile | Seat-miles per gallon | Load factor | Passengers (millions) | Fuel (million gallons) | CO2 (thousand tonnes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 45.6 | 0.214 | 55.2 | 82.6% | 57.9 | 1,484 | 14,471 |
| 2008 | 45.9 | 0.212 | 54.9 | 83.7% | 65.1 | 1,640 | 15,990 |
| 2007 | 44.2 | 0.221 | 52.7 | 83.7% | 66.6 | 1,688 | 16,456 |
| 2006 | 43.3 | 0.225 | 51.7 | 83.7% | 67.9 | 1,714 | 16,711 |
| 2005 | 40.6 | 0.240 | 50.0 | 81.2% | 70.4 | 1,920 | 18,720 |
| 2004 | 38.5 | 0.253 | 48.9 | 78.8% | 68.3 | 1,926 | 18,780 |
| 2003 | 36.7 | 0.265 | 48.3 | 76.1% | 62.9 | 1,859 | 18,121 |
| 2002 | 35.5 | 0.275 | 46.6 | 76.1% | 59.4 | 1,964 | 19,152 |
| 2001 | 33.5 | 0.291 | 45.6 | 73.5% | 59.7 | 2,086 | 20,342 |
| 2000 | 34.9 | 0.279 | 46.2 | 75.6% | 64.2 | 2,175 | 21,208 |
Where the leaders stand
Nearby airline results
These airlines sit nearby by passenger-miles per gallon in their last data year. Historical airlines have different end years, shown here, so this isn't a same-year ranking.
Airline references
Source: US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), Schedule P-12(a) fuel, T-100 traffic and regional Schedule T-2 filings; US EPA jet-fuel CO2 factor. See the methodology.