Originally Posted by
snowdawg
True. A big blow to NW cargo was the loss of the DHL contract in 2005, it was 49% of their revenue on the cargo side. After that the writing was on the wall for the freight operation. And by 2008 if a cargo company didn't have 747-400's or newer then they couldn't get military contracts. The old NW classics became quickly obsolete overnight and that happened about the time of the merger.
People joke about "No money in cargo". Well it's a competitive world and there are many cargo companies long gone and Bankrupt.
August 20 2005 mechanics went in strike at nwa. The capable mechanics that could keep the old girls flying were replaced with bus guys who didn't know them near well enough. They were on tdy out of msp. The DHL contract was lost due on time performance being obliterated due to the mechanic issues. No contract lasts when plane leaves 3 days late.
by your admission it was quite lucrative prior to the issues arising from the mechanical nuances.
Now military charter was always performed by the 747-400s. The classics were freight only not pax.
the evolution of times gave us 747 400s, 777's and 767ers. All fitting the requirements of military charter of supplies, all with range for freight and all highly capable freight aircraft. I dont care what the naysayers view is. My point is we were flying 2 a day chicago to Frankfurt and backs of amazon freight only on 777s. And that saved our backsides and we should never sacrifice the stability freight offers during downturns especially when we had aircraft capable and paid for.
But wait here comes stay yo lane dude...