Northern Airways Boeing 747-400 1990-2002

The 1990’s once again saw Northern getting the opportunity to work with Boeing on the 747 project. They were consulted on what they would want on the next generation of Boeing 747’s along with airlines like Royal Dutch and Air Crimson. Northern received the second 747-400 airframe in 1990. This plane would redefine Northern Luxury with the Executive Business class, a large plush economy and a redefined first class cabin.

Nearing the end of 1994 Northern entered agreements to buy out the struggling St. Louis based Intercontinental Airways. Inheriting their operations and fleet of DC-9-40, 757’s and DC-10-30’s. The DC-9-40’s were almost immediately sold to Air Crimson after the merger. Most only to receive stickers with Northern branding on some parts of the aircraft. The 757’s and DC-10-30’s entered normal operations for Northern.

In 1997 Mark Vercetti stepped down from the CEO position at Northern choosing to sit as head of the board. The new Northern CEO would be Harrold Dawson.

In 1997 Northern also acquired their first set of Airbus A330 jets becoming the first in the fleet to not be made by a American manufacturer. The A330-200 was the first to arrive, being named after the iconic Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The rest of Northerns Airbus fleet would be named after Japanese cities.
In 1999 Northern would start leasing gates at Newark airport in New Jersey. Moving the majority of their major east coast routes from Laguardia to Newark.

After the 2001 attacks on September 11th and the large drop in passenger numbers Northerns profits dropped steadily. Northern rapidly started retiring their oldest planes such as the 727 and the DC-10-40 to make room more modern aircraft like the 767 and 737NG’s that would provide significant fuel savings to the airline while improving their image.