Northwest to launch Indy-San Francisco

Northwest Airlines says it will launch nonstop Indianapolis (IND) to San Francisco (SFO) service on June 1. The announcement follows news that discount airline AirTran Airways plans to start plying the same route on June 7.

In addition to starting the Indianapolis to San Francisco service, Northwest says it will lay on a second daily Indianapolis-Los Angeles (LAX) nonstop on June 8. That move too comes after cheap-seat AirTran’s announcement that it would begin nonstop service between the cities on May 9.

Both Indianapolis to Los Angeles and Indianapolis to San Francisco will be operated with Northwest’s new A319s.

Northwest is known throughout the industry as an aggressive defender of what it considers its home turf, and Indianapolis is precisely that. With the addition of new service to the city, which includes the return of seasonal flights to Seattle/Tacoma and improvements to the Indianapolis to New York LaGuardia (LGA) schedule, Northwest will offer 44 daily departures from the Indiana city to 18 destinations.

Northwest is currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. On February 13, its pilots, members of the Air Line Pilots Association, started voting on whether to authorize a strike. Those ballots will be counted on February 28. Should pilots give the okay, the NWA Air Line Pilots Association says that union leadership will have the authority to call a strike “if Northwest management imposes terms and conditions of employment on the pilot group”.

Recent negotiations between Northwest and its pilots on a concession agreement have produced few results.

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler