Wings Financial, the suitably named credit union serving airline workers, is opening its doors to a broader group of customers. Starting Tuesday, anyone in the 13-county Twin Cities metro area -- including St. Croix and Pierce counties in Wisconsin -- can open accounts and take out loans at one of Wings' seven area locations.

Wings is the largest credit union in Minnesota. and one of the 50 largest in the nation, with $2.2 billion in assets. It has 18 branch offices nationwide, many at airports.

Wings started in 1938 as the credit union for Northwest Airlines employees. Today, the credit union, with its headquarters in Apple Valley, serves 30 air transportation companies, including 54 airlines, and has 123,000 members.

Members voted this summer to change the credit union's charter from federal to state to enable widened membership. Wings Financial President and CEO Paul Parish said his organization will continue to serve the transportation industry. However, the consolidation of the airline industry makes it difficult for a financial institution serving that single sector to grow. "We're of course looking for additional diversification," Parish said.

Many Minnesota credit unions serve communities much larger than their names suggest, said Mark Cummins, president and CEO of the Minnesota Credit Union Network. Cummins said credit unions that once served a far narrower group of individuals may have asked themselves: "Is there going to be a nucleus of people within this one group that allows us to continue to offer services to a level that we want to be able to provide to our members?"

At a time when many credit unions are struggling, Wings Financial has stayed strong, thanks to low expenses and steering clear of business lending, Parish said. "We didn't do some of the things our peer organizations did with respect to derivative loans, with respect to some of the odd mortgage products," he said. "We stuck with consumer finance, and fortunately we've been able to do well there."

For the first six months of the year, Wings reported net income of $10.4 million.

Kara McGuire • 612-673-7293