DC-9 Maintenance
 

Spending a lot of time in DTW lately; I see that they maintain the DC-10's and 747's here, but not the DC9's (at least that I can see).

Where are these maintained? (Spirit has a maintenance base here of all places....)

MSP does most of the work on 9's, along with ATL. ATL was the Southern Airways base, and MSP was the North Central/Republic base. Those carriers brought the DC9 fleet to Northwest, which never owned a DC9 prior to the Republic merger. But many DC9's were acquired second hand by NW after the merger.

The main DC9 maint. base is ATL. The Airbus is DLH. The 747-200's is SIN and the -400's is DTW. The 757's is MSP

I think they may do the 10s in MSP too. I always see them there in the big hanger off of 494.

In the late 1980s, NWA decided to replace their entire fleet with brand new A320s, B757, A330/A340 and B744. The primary maintenance base was to be in DLH. However, the 1989 acquisition by Wings Holdings (now Northwest Airlines Corporation) that took the company private -- along with a failed 1991 merger into Pan American World Airways -- cash-drained the company and their goal was no longer feasible (hey, doesn’t that sound like US Airways?!? An all-Airbus fleet, failed merger with the much larger United -- does this mean United’s going under?!?). However, the DLH maintenance base was salvaged after MN agreed to bail-out NWA. It will house the A330s when they come along next summer.

The DTW maintenance base is “just for looks.” It was added, along with a “Detroit Task Team” when passengers complained about too many delays and lack of consumer service in Detroit. NWA wanted everything to be MN-based and were reluctant to build the maintenance base at their largest hub.

By the way, Spirit Airlines was founded in the Detroit-area. It’s HQ didn’t move to FL until a couple years ago. DTW remains NK’s primary base. In addition to their point-to-point flying, they’d like to build an Airtran-like hub at DTW but NWA has an exclusive contract with the airport prohibiting that from happening. I believe it’s in court or will be going to court.

The Spirit Airline maintenance base, by the way, was built by and belonged to Delta up until NWA purchased their LAX (although I don't think DL ever utilized it), MCO and LGW routes. For some reason, Delta sued NWA trying to get those routes back but I never understood why?

From what I have been told, currently 747-400s, 757s, some 747-200s, some DC10s, some Airbus and some DC9s are maintained at MSP. Most DC10s and some 747-200s (mainly freighters) are maintained in Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong, respectively). Most DC9s are maintained either in ATL or at a vendor location in Alabama. Most Airbuses are maintained in Duluth.

Detroit apparently does not do any significant maintenance -- just routine overnights, line maintenance, etc.

[This message has been edited by Montys_Mayhem (edited 08-23-2002).]

I assume you're referring to the DC10 hangar ? I don't think NW would spend money to build a hangar "just for looks".
True, there is no heavy maintenance being performed on the DC-10's at DTW, but there is overnight maintenance work performed on a daily basis. The hangar will also be able to house A330's which will probably also undergo routine maintenance work during overnight stays. In addition, NW will build a 747 hangar at DTW which will be able to accommodate 2 747's. Part of the old international arrival building will be demolished to create real estate for this new hangar.

The hanger off of 494 in MSP is general line Maint for all AC types. DLH is the primary Maint base for all airbus. 747-200's are done in SIN. DC-9's are done in ATL. 757's are taken care of in MSP, and the 747-400's are taken care of in DTW, MSP, and NRT. There is no maint base in Asia for the DC-10's, since they do not fly to NRT any more. They are handled in MSP also. These are the "Heavy Maint Bases" The general line work can be performed any place since mechs are at every station, they will work on them at the gate or in a hanger at that airport. But for the heavy checks that have to be performed every few month they are flowen to their respective bases.

JJVAN
(NWA Purser)


[This message has been edited by jjvan (edited 08-23-2002).]

NW purchased LAX, MCO and LGW routes from DL?? You don't have to purchase a domestic route to/from LAX or MCO... don't know where this is coming from ?? As for the DTW-LGW route, Delta aquired it from the PanAm deal several years ago (it was a CLE-DTW-LGW route) and NW purchased it from Delta a couple of years later...

Just wanted to clarify http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

A few corrections:

DC10 heavy maintenance is still done in Singapore (SASCO). The aircraft are ferried there.

747-400 heavy maintenance is done in MSP. Only line maintenance and routine overnights are done in DTW and NRT. The MSP hangar is off 494, but not the ones you see side on. They are across the Mesaba and Sun Country hangars.

747-200 heavy maintenance are done both in MSP and in Hong Kong (HAECO). Mostly the freighters are done in Hong Kong.

DC9s are done in ATL and in Dothan, AL (PEMCO).

Airbus A320/A319 are done mainly in Duluth, but occasionally in MSP too.

757 heavy maintenance is done at MSP, in one of the hangars off of 494.

So it appears Monty had it pretty much right in his post above.

Of course they do maintenance in DTW... I wouldn't argue that. But it's just simple maintenace. Why do you think DTW and MEM lag behind MSP in delays? The DTW hanger was built as an answer to growing complaints. It was built so cheaply that the roof caved during an AVERAGE windstorm. Anybody who follows NWA knows that they want everything to be controlled by MN... it's been a major complaint for years.

DC10's are no longer taken care of in SIN. Whey are all handled in MSP now. Due to the fact that thew are being retired, and we do not fly them into asia, with the exception of HNL-KIX. This was a changed a few months ago. I just finished working a 6 day MSP-AMS-MIA-AMS-MSP trip, and asked the pilots about it. They also stated that they do not have the pilots to ferry them over there, due to the fact that the ones that are not flying right now, are in training to be qualified on a new AC

Sometimes I don't think before I type... circa 1994, the airport and NW agreed to a build an extension to concourse C -- which was also Delta's home for severl years. Also part of the agreement was NW's rights to be the only DTW hub carrier. DL *claimed* they were forced to move and felt as though they had to give up their rights (slots, whatever) to all non-hub routes to NW. They brought NW to court. I never understood why.

I'm sure the fact that NW went from 4 daily international flights with DC10's in the mid nineties to 9 flights around 2000 had something to do with that hangar. Of course, that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. The fact that they had 4 overnight DC10's in DTW (combination of DC10-30's and -40's) surely helped minimize customer complaints since these A/C could now be worked overnight in DTW. This made it easier to route them through DTW even if there was scheduled maintenance due.

JJvan -- this is simply incorrect information. DC10-30s are still worked at SIN. There was a lull in the planned check cycle in recent months, that's all. DC10-30s are NOT being retired any time soon. It is the DC10-40s that are being retired -- they will all be out of service next month. Checks on the -30s resume next month (September) full force in SIN. Trust me. If you want further details, please send me direct email.



[This message has been edited by Sankaps (edited 08-24-2002).]