What history?

Anderson was appointed CEO of Northwest Airlines in February 2001. Simultaneously, Douglas Steenland was appointed president, and the two would effectively maintain a collaborative style of leadership. In October 2001 Anderson was appointed to the airline's board of directors.

As the newly appointed CEO, Anderson promised to continue his predecessor John Dasburg's focus upon product integrity and customer service. In February 2002 Anderson opened the new $1.2 billion midfield terminal at Detroit's Metro Airport, a project he had been instrumental in initiating in 1994. The new terminal offered enhanced capacity and faster connection times, enabling Northwest Airlines to expand its already extensive service to Asia and to increase its competitiveness among business travelers. With a state-of-theart architectural design, the new facility offered a change in image from the previous terminal and was intended to generate improved customer experiences.

At a company known for low employee morale, Anderson was committed to improving labor relations. In an interview broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio, Anderson extended an olive branch to Northwest labor unions, saying, "We have to go down the road today of building relationships, and you have to build those relationships while you're not in negotiations" (June 18, 2001). He thereafter undertook a nationwide tour of Northwest sites to establish rapport with employees and hear their concerns. In April 2001 he successfully negotiated a new contract with the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association, which represented 9,795 Northwest mechanics, cleaners, and custodians. This resolution ended a dispute that had begun in 1996.

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist hijacking of four jetliners, Anderson strove to balance his commitment to labor relations with the pressing need to reduce operating costs. In an interview with the New York Times , Anderson said of Northwest's stance, "In the last two and a half years, we've been the most aggressive in the industry in terms of getting out in front of the problems that we faced. It's necessitated some very hard decisions" (August 7, 2003). Anderson failed to get union support for wage and benefit concessions to the tune of $950 million by July 2003, which the company had claimed would be necessary to stave off bankruptcy proceedings. Despite this threat Northwest did not subsequently file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as United and U.S. Airways had done in 2002. By restructuring in order to reduce operating costs, Anderson and Steenland eliminated 17,000 jobs from the payroll and cut $1.6 billion in annual expenses between 2001 and 2003.

Anderson emerged as an industry leader in talks with the federal government regarding financial assistance for the air-transportation industry in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. He helped develop tighter security mandates with the Federal Aviation Administration and was part of the Bush administration's Airport Safety Committee, which was formed in the days following the attacks. In these talks Anderson sought federal government assistance in the form of payment of increased security costs, reductions in the taxes and fees imposed on airlines, and increased flexibility for mergers and alliances in order to promote sales. His role as industry spokesperson was expanded when he was appointed chairman of the executive committee of the Air Transport Association in December 2002.

Anderson's dual attendance to operating performance and labor relations improved Northwest's public image and commercial performance. In July 2002 Standard & Poor's deemed Northwest to be one of the two most stable megacarriers in the industry; Anderson's leadership in the wake of the 9/11 attacks was an important factor in this judgment. Joel Denney, the analyst with the Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, Piper Jaffray, praised the performances of both Anderson and the Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune in turning around the fortunes of their respective companies. Speaking to the Minneapolis–St. Paul Business Journal in 2002, Denney said of the pair, "It's not that they knew the future, but they prepared for the unknown" (July 26, 2002).

As CEO of Northwest, Anderson was committed to involvement in the Minnesota and Michigan communities, serving on the boards of Hamline University of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Medtronic, among numerous other local and business organizations. In 2000 he was appointed first chairman of the Minnesota Business Leadership Network.