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Detroit
Metropolitan Wayne County Airport
Detroit Metro Airport, is a
major hub and the operational headquarters for Northwest Airlines and
its Northwest Airlink partners, Mesaba Airlines and Pinnacle Airlines.
It is also a hub for Spirit Airlines, and was its original headquarters
before Spirit moved to Ft Lauderdale. The airport has six major runways,
three terminals, including the new McNamamara terminal which is pictured
here. It opened in 2002 replacing the 1966 circa Davey Terminal. McNamara
is the home of Northwest and has the innovative ExpressTram running through
its mile long roof. In 2008, DTW's vintage 1958 era Smith Terminal will
be replaced by the modern new North Terminal. As of 2006, Detroit Metropolitan
Wayne County Airport is the eleventh busiest airport in the United States
and the seventeenth busiest airport in the world.
Macnamara Concourse photographs
courtesy: Greg Sloan. All other images from Chris Sloan
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McNamara Terminal
The 2002 circa state of the
art McNamara terminal is home to Northwest's Detroit hub as well as its
partners Delta, Continental, and KLM. International carriers British Airways,
Air France, Lufthansa, and Royal Jordanian also serve from this terminal.
Irony lovers and airline history fans rejoice at the juxtaposition of
the modern terminal and Northwest's 1960s and 1970s vintage DC-9 fleet.
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LC Smith Terminal
The LC Smith Terminal was completed
in 1958 as DTW began to become the main Detroit area commercial airport,
replacing Willow Run. It is the oldest terminal at DTW. This very old,
dilapitated time warp of a facility will be demolished in 2008 to make
room for the new North Terminal.
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LC Smith Terminal
Map
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LC Smith Baggage
Claim
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LC Smith Control Tower
This has long since been replaced
and now is used for offices and ramp control
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Spirit Airlines Airbus
A-319
Though Northwest is DTW's #1
airline, Spirit was once the hometown airline. Spirit operates a low cost
service similar to Air Tran with assigned seating and a small "business
class" cabin, from hubs/bases at Detroit and Ft Lauderdale. The airline
was founded in 1992 in Detroit before HQ headed south to Ft. Lauderdale.
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Northwest Airlines
Douglas DC-9 and Super Tug
The vintage DC-9 is pulled
by a high powered, fast Super Tug to the runway. This new tug saves precious
fuel by essentially taxing the aircraft out to the runway, allowing for
engines to be shut off.
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Taxiway Overpass
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Runway and Taxiway
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Northwest Airlink
(Mesaba) Saab 340 at De-Icing Pad
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De-Icing Truck and
Pad
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Berry Terminal
From 1974-2002, the Barey Terminal
was DTWs international facility. It is now used for charter operations
and smaller airlines such as USA 3000. When the new North Terminal is
completed in 2008, Barey will be demolished.
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Executive Terminal
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New North Terminal
Construction Site
These photos, taken in January,
2007 reveal a construction site in its early stages. Remarkably it is
scheduled to be completed in late 2008. The Smith and Barey Terminals
will then be demolished. Note the old school embedded jet bridge taken
from the ill fated Smith Terminal.
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Northwest Airlines
Maintenance
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Spirit Airlines Maintenance
Even though corporate HQ has
moved from Detroit to Ft Lauderdale, most heavy maintenance procedures
are undertaken here. Note the MD-80 here in 2003 colors. These are nearly
phased out, having been replaced by Airbus A-319s as Spirit becomes an
all Airbus operation.
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