Northwest to Bar Smoking on Nearly All U.S. Flights

Northwest Airlines said today it will ban smoking on nearly all of its domestic flights, making it the first major U.S. airline to mandate a smoke-free travel environment in the air.

The restriction will begin on April 23, the same day a federal law is to go into effect banning smoking on all flights of two hours or less.

Northwest noted in a statement that its program goes “significantly beyond” the requirements of the new law.

In addition to flights within the contiguous 48 states, the program, dubbed “Northwest Clears the Air,” will apply to flights to and from Alaska, Mexico, Canada, Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.

Flights to Hawaii and overseas will continue to offer smoking sections because those flights “carry a greater proportion of foreign passengers who feel differently about the issue,” the airline said.

A. B. Magary, the airline’s executive vice president for marketing, said the ban “is a response to our customers’ and employees’ requests.” A Northwest study showed that 9 out of 10 passengers prefer to sit in the no-smoking section of a plane.

Northwest would have had to eliminate smoking on many of its flights anyway because about 80% of all U.S. flights are two hours or less.

By extending the ban to all flights, Northwest could be avoiding confusion expected to result from the new law. For example, it is not clear how the law would apply to flights that are scheduled to take under two hours but are delayed.

More important, Northwest could be saving itself some costs. Airlines must install and maintain filters that are difficult and costly to clean, and they spend additional money on air conditioning to recirculate fresh air.