Northwest to suspend Paris flights until spring

Less than three months after inaugurating nonstop service between the Twin Cities and Paris, Northwest Airlines on Thursday suspended that route for fall and winter months.

"Oil was absolutely the driving factor in this decision," said Tammy Lee, Northwest's vice president of corporate communications.

The carrier, which had been running Mona Lisa ads to promote the route, launched the service on April 8 with an Airbus A330 that seats 264 in economy class and 34 in business. Announcement of the route last October came at a news conference at the Hotel Sofitel in Bloomington with Sen. Norm Coleman, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak as well as top Northwest executives.

By Thursday, Northwest announced that it would suspend service on that route from Oct. 1 through March 27.

"Everybody loves Paris in the springtime," Lee said, and that's when the carrier plans to reinstitute the service.

However, on Thursday Northwest also said that it was simply terminating service between Detroit and Dusseldorf, Germany, in October.

It's also ending flights between Hartford, Conn., and Amsterdam in the fall.

Northwest CEO Doug Steenland said at the October press event that "we've taken a bit of a leap of faith" in choosing to start the Twin Cities-Paris flight. That's because the carrier decided to move ahead with it before securing U.S. antitrust immunity that would allow it to coordinate its schedule and pricing with Air France.

Northwest has a long-standing joint venture with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines but wanted to pursue the same business arrangement with Air France and Delta Air Lines for transatlantic flying.

Northwest and the other carriers did win approval from the Department of Transportation this year for their joint operations.

Terry Trippler, a Minneapolis-based travel expert, said Northwest and other carriers have been forced to cut some of their international flights.

"They don't have the luxury of losing money for a year or 18 months to let the market grow into profitability," Trippler said.

Northwest said it will accommodate the Twin Cities-Paris travelers who already have booked tickets with other flights operated by Northwest and its SkyTeam alliance partners.