I noticed a few interesting things in the latest downloadable timetable. Summer Aspen service will return for the summer. 1 flight daily leaving MSP at 9pm and returning from ASE about 9am. A FIFTH DTW-AMS is available with a 2200-ish departure and 1300 return provided by a DC10. ANC-OGG-HNL-ANC service returns 3 times weekly for the summer as well. This winter service must be proving lucrative. I'll post more if I find them.


AZJ

MSP-NRT increases from 8x weekly to 10x weekly. The new frequencies also operate with B744. Before anybody asks, the slots came from HNL-NRT, which is going to 14x weekly this summer vs. 17x weekly last summer.

The return of the fifth DTW-AMS is a surprise. I would've liked to see the 2300 departure, like the old NW60 though.

Ah, didn�t we repeatedly read on airliners.net that this service would fail miserably?

Worth noting: they've added these new flights, but they haven't made any changes to existing ones (in other words, the timetable's otherwise the same).

Impressive -- its been what, four years since there were five daily DTW-AMS summer flights? Too bad they're having to use a '10 (for coach at least) instead of one of the 333s. I liked this late departure and welcome it back. Reminds me of the old terminal in DTW. Let's hope there is demand to fill the seats.

I'm sure there will be demand... let's hope the revenue follows though. I was in the bathroom the other day in DTW and overhead some folks complaining about how expensive it is to travel. I just had to roll my eyes.

Yea, I liken airliners.net anymore to toilet paper. Basically useless, but necessary in life. =) So, poo poo on them for calling the new ANC stuff a failure.

MSP-NRT is nice to see up to 10 weekly! As far as the ASE goes, it's about time that NWA brought this summer flight back... it's been about 3 years I think. But this winters ASE flying was the biggest ever with MSP getting up to 4 flights a day and MEM 2.

The 5th AMS flight schedule in detail is as follows:

NWA 36 DTW-AMS 2220-1215 DC10
NWA 37 AMS-DTW 1300-1530 DC10


AZJ

Speaking of A.net, I was checking if there was anything worthwhile, and there was. AA will be starting daily DFW-RST and twice daily DFW-MSN. I double checked on AA res, and sure enough, it's there.

Northwest must be fuming...

This is a great news! I loved the old NW58 MEM-AMS when it was leaving after 9pm from MEM. I could get whole day of work done. This new NW36 is great!

Now if only there was a 7:30pm-ish TYS-DTW

fuming? i sort of doubt it. don't know about RST, but AA doesn't have a huge presence in MSN. i don't think you're going to find many loyal NW customers finding themselves giving up F seats...or even Y seats for that matter...on mainline A/C for a 2+ hour ERJ ride to DFW.

Okay, maybe they're not fuming, but they're not happy, considering how NW dominates RST and has more or less a dominating role at MSN.

Oups. Found my answer somewhere else... Sorry

With the 5th daily DTW-AMS and the addition of the Air France flight to CDG NW/ Sky Team seriously increases the # of flights to Europe this summer out of DTW. Any news on the MAD flight or any other "NEW" European cities?

If they haven't announced them yet, there probably won't be any. They seem to announce new destinations and flights about 3 months in advance. We still have a little time before we get too close to the June 9 summer sked change. I doubt we'll see anything new however.


AZJ

Maybe AA is responding to the DTW-RST that NW started last fall. Business continues to improve at the MAyo and national/international connections are increasing. NW continue to improve service here and is the main airline here. AA just trying to keep up.

Azj,
What about MSP-AMS (or other European destinations)? Can you tell if KLM will resume AMS-MSP?

I don't know any more than what the timetable tells me. This is the same timetable you have access to. So my info is not a secret. As far as I can tell, it looks like MSp-AMS is all DC10. I think NWA is poised to handle the hub-AMS flying and KLM most of the outstation-AMS flying. Seems to work better that way.


AZJ

Per labor agreements, KLM can not "take over" an NW flight without NW replacing KLM elsewhere. Perhaps the fifth DTW-AMS flight will allow KL to operate from one of NW's hubs, but I think it's doubtful.

NW/KL do not split cargo revenues. KL was contracted to carry cargo for (but not limited to) JNY and Kuhlman to several MSP-based distributers. I believe these contracts have since ended. That played a big role in KL's desire to serve MSP-AMS. When their seasonal service ended, NW added a third frequency... probably in response to ATL-AMS & its labor contracts.

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Too bad NW's parking a B744 at JFK for 23-hours and not flying it to AMS, like they use to (on days it wasn't undergoing mx).

Yeah, this is a great one. You can work all day and still make a connecting flight to DTW, and on the way back you don't have to get up so early. Not that I'VE ever gone out late in AMS...