Airline Time Machine

One Week Away!

If you’re in the Twin Cities region - next Saturday, December 13 is Kids Day at The Museum at the Northwest Airlines History Center!

Kids (and their accompanying Responsible Adult) will have hands-on activities to explore, there’s fun photo opportunities for those holiday cards, and it’s all part of the best air travel museum in the upper Midwest.

10 am - 1 pm with Free Admission, Free Parking, and a great way to connect kids to the excitement and possibilities of air travel!

The museum is on the 3rd floor of the Crowne Plaza Suites Hotel in Bloomington (by the hotel’s fitness center), close to the MSP Airport at 494 & 34th Av.

The Pointy Part!

Seen here on its gate at the Minneapolis /St. Paul International Airport (KMSP) on 29 September 2025 is Bombardier CRJ-700 registered N709EV of SkyWest Airlines, operated under the “Delta Connection” brand.

The “EV” in the registration hints at this plane’s history: it was delivered new in December 2002 to Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) of Atlanta, an early codeshare regional airline for Delta Air Lines.

ASA used “EV” as its carrier code, and began operating in 1979, becoming a Delta Connection partner airline in 1984. ASA was eventually acquired by Delta in 1999, then sold to SkyWest six years later.

Since becoming part of the SkyWest fleet, this plane has been operated under codeshare agreements for Delta (2002-2021), as well as American Airlines (2021-2024), but has been assigned to Delta flights - in Delta Connection paint - since August 2024.

In Delta Connection service, the CRJ-700 seats 65-69 passengers, with nine first class seats, 12 or 16 extra legroom economy seats, and forty four regular economy seats.

Stubbornly human-written, with no AI involved.

ⓒ 2025 Airline Time Machine

A favorite museum!

🎶 Northwest Orient....GONG....Airlines! When I was at the Minnesota Business Aviation Association Safety Day at the Crowne Plaza® MSP, there was Northwest Airlines memorabilia all over the hotel. When I checked in, I asked about it, and he said the Northwest Airlines Museum was upstairs!

It'll tug at your heartstrings if you stop in and have any connections with NWA. They have flight attendant/pilot uniforms over the years. A B747 FE panel. All the aircraft models. Books. Dinnerware. Seats. Various marketing materials and enthusiastic volunteers!

Here's the link to the old radio commercial/earworm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRf8j5PZ-7A

Link to Northwest Airlines History Center/Museum: https://northwestairlineshistory.org/

Metro Mystery

(Well, it’s a mystery to me!)

I need your help to identify this airport location - based on the airline, the service history of the plane, and where I was traveling in the 1990s, my guess is San Diego because of the West Terminal sign.

The plane (seen here being fed some tasty Jet A fuel on a sunny day), is a Fairchild Swearingen Metro III with manufacturer’s serial number AC-736, that was delivered new to SkyWest Airlines of St. George, Utah during May 1989.

Registered N2730P, this Metro III flew with SkyWest for 8 years on Delta Connection codeshare routes in the western U.S., then was utilized as a freighter by small airlines in Uruguay and Mexico.

AC-736 was heavily damaged at Saltillo, Mexico in 2018 following an undercarriage collapse on landing, and was dismantled for parts afterward.

Stubbornly human-written, with no AI involved.

ⓒ 2025 Airline Time Machine

Food Fight!

There’s a new Airline Time Machine Podcast episode out, with the story of a fierce scuffle between European and U.S. airlines over menu offerings in the early days of Transatlantic low fare service.

Before large jet airliners accelerate air travel growth in the late 1950s, flying between continents is an exhausting experience, requiring fifteen hours or more for the flight to New York from Europe.

To help travelers pass the time, meal service is a big focus for the airlines, and the cuisine offered is an important way to distinguish an airline from its competitors in an era of tightly regulated airfares.

Then, in early 1958, a “food fight” breaks out over what constitutes a “sandwich”, and the fight involves disparagement, threats to cancel landing rights, legal actions, and a big financial penalty.

Join me for this look at the Transatlantic Sandwich Scuffle of 1958, and how it’s resolved as the airline industry moves toward defining what low cost air travel will look - and taste - like!

Hear the story on the Airline Time Machine podcast (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Echo, Pocket Casts, and other podcast streaming platforms, or use the link in my profile), and you’ll find many more episodes with stories about airlines, airliners, aviators, and airports!

Stubbornly human-written, with no AI involved.

ⓒ 2025 Airline Time Machine