NWA wants to fly to Baghdad

[Aloha717200]

Just heard about this on the news:

Apparently, Northwest Airlines wants to be the first to initiate airline service between Detroit and Baghdad.

NWA says that Detroit has one of the largest Arab-American populations, and feels that as reconstruction begins to occur, regular scheduled service between DTW and Baghdad would be a profitable venture. NWA wishes to be the first US airline to fly into Iraq.



What do you think about this? Right now, I'd say it's a bad idea, unless things improve in the Iraqi economy, the morale of it's citizens, etc.


Now, let me just say that this is NOT a political post, so please let's not get into any kind of political debates. I'm just wondering what you think about NWA possibly flying into Baghdad soon.

Good idea? Bad idea? Bad idea with risk of terrorist attacks? Good idea for providing a way for Arab-Americans to quickly and easily meet their extended families in Iraq?

You be the judge. :)



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[tjkotula]

>NWA says that Detroit has one
>of the largest Arab-American populations,

Which is true.

>Good idea? Bad idea? Bad idea
>with risk of terrorist attacks?
>Good idea for providing a
>way for Arab-Americans to quickly
>and easily meet their extended
>families in Iraq?

NWA needs to look into this further before they bite into it. They really need to ask themselves - of all of the Arab-Americans that live in Detroit, how many have family in Iraq and how often do they visit them? Would they be willing to pay $1500 a seat in coach for the trip?

If this is started right away, I see it being a flop. NWA should let the dust settle in Iraq for a couple of years and then consider the possibility again.

Tim Kotula
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[gdub2611]

Would Baghdad Airport not need to be sorted out first? I saw images of AC being blown up from above and im guessing that's going to leave a bit of a mess?

Gary
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[Erick_Cantu]

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON May-09-03 AT 09:25PM (EDT)[/font][p]NWA's not American. I'm sure their ticket prices would be less than that.

Reminds me of the last time I wanted to fly to LA. Looked at Always Awful and Untied's fares - 757-200, depart MSP arrive LAX, flight time around 3 hours. Coach seat on those two around $900 if I remember right.

Coach seat on NWA, for the same 757-200, same 3 hours? $200. All fares round-trip of course.

Now y'all know why I fly Northwest.

-E

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[Sonar5]

Maybe you can get a ride with Aeroflot Erick, if you have so much faith in theor aircraft.

Have a day,
Joe

As for NWA flying into Baghdad. Good For them. I hope they get it.

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[Erick_Cantu]

Yes, if I were to fly SU from the US to Iraq, it would no doubt be a 777...'their' aircraft certainly must be c rap then! Especially the 737's, 767's, and A300's!

I hope NWA gets Baghdad too. Sounds like it might be a nice country to visit someday.

-E

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[xiphanopoulous]

I really don't see how this could be profitable for at least a few years until things quiet down a lot more, and for NWA to do it now just for the PR would be stupid. What would be better, at least for the time being, is for NWA to codeshare with KLM from Amsterdam. That being said, I'm not sure Baghdad is a very desireable tourist spot at the moment, so anything at all is probably some time off. Also, I'm not sure that they really have the right aircraft to do it. I dont know if the DC-10 can get from Detroit to Baghdad (or if it can get back is the real question), and a 747 would be wasteful except if it got to 70-80% capacity, which I don't see ever happening. Once they get the A330s, maybe.
As far as terrorist attacks go, I think its safe enough. The real obstacle to this is cost.

xiphanopoulous