AIRWAYS HISTORY
NORTHWEST AIRLINES HISTORY CENTER ( MINNEAPOLIS , MINNESOTA ) Museum location : Crowne Plaza AiRE Hotel , 3 Appletree Square Bloomington , MN 55425 ( 952 ) 876-8677 Chuck Huntley , Museum Manager chuckhuntley @ gmail . com www . northwestairlineshistory . org
Our museum is on the third floor of the Crowne Plaza AiRE Hotel , located directly south of the Minneapolis / St . Paul International Airport and accessible by the Blue Line light rail as well as a free shuttle from MSP ’ s terminals . It is open to the public , with no admission charge , from 11:00 to 17:00 , Thursday through Saturday . Exhibits include uniforms , large model aircraft , cabin seating , marketing materials , Asian services , and displays dedicated to heritage carriers Republic , North Central , Southern , Hughes Airwest , West Coast , Bonanza , and Pacific . Visitors can even strike the gong used in NWA ’ s advertising jingles during the 1970s-80s !
Founded in 2002 , the Northwest Airlines History Center is an all-volunteer 501 ( c )( 3 ) nonprofit organization with a mission to “ explore and celebrate the generational impact of commercial aviation by bringing together resources , experiences , and community .” The NWAHC is the Upper Midwest ’ s only museum dedicated to celebrating commercial aviation , showing how the airline business has enriched the region ’ s social and economic fabric , and how scientific and engineering advances have made traveling safer and more reliable .
Northwest Airlines , its group of legacy carriers ( Republic , North Central / Wisconsin Central , Southern , Hughes Airwest / Air West , Bonanza , Pacific Air Lines / Southwest Airways , West Coast , Empire , and Zimmerly ), and the commuter partners which flew the Red Tail — such as Mesaba , Big Sky , Simmons , Precision , Northeast Express , Pacific Island Air , Express I / Pinnacle , and Compass — have been our focus for the last two decades . We are in the process of expanding our scope , as the story of commercial aviation continues and the Twin Cities retains a vibrant ecosystem of carriers and industry partners . Connecting generations and building a community are the ways through which we aim to grow our relevance and usefulness to aerospace , logistics , and tourism , and to the public at large .
We are now working on the authorizations and fundraising needed to build a permanent museum — ideally at Flying Cloud Airport — suited to house full-size airliners and airport gear , classrooms and workshops , event , meeting , and performance spaces , and a fine-dining restaurant overlooking the Minnesota River Valley . If our funding and development plans are successful , we will be looking at opening this signature facility in the late 2020s .
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