ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Northwest Airlines Corp. has tapped Miller Lite, the nation's No. 2 light beer, to replace top-selling Bud Light on all of its flights worldwide.
Eagan, Minn.-based Northwest, the nation's fourth-largest airline, said Miller Lite will be phased in aboard Northwest and Northwest- Airlink-operated flights over the next several weeks as its inventories of Bud Light are depleted.
Still, Northwest will continue serving Budweiser by Miller Brewing Co. rival Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. as its full-calorie beer on all of its flights. Northwest also still will offer up various imported brews.
Northwest and Northwest Airlink, which offer beverage service on roughly 2,800 of the 3,012 flights they operate worldwide to 247 cities in 23 countries, expect to buy more than 700,000 cans of Miller Lite a year to be served aboard its 659-aircraft fleet.
Last year, Northwest and its Northwest Airlink partners - Mesaba Airlines and Pinnacle Airlines - carried more than 67 million passengers.
Northwest had served Miller Lite on its flights until roughly five years ago, when the airline switched to Bud Light, airline spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch said Thursday.
Among other things, Northwest made the switch because of passenger demand for ''increasingly popular'' Miller Lite in Milwaukee and Minneapolis, two of Northwest's biggest markets, Ebenhoch said.
With Miller's presence in Milwaukee, ''Northwest also wanted to support one of our largest companies in one of our most-important U.S. markets,'' he said.
An executive for Milwaukee-based Miller, a unit of London-based SABMiller PLC, said the brewery was ''very excited'' about the changeover as the company celebrates its 150th anniversary this year.
''Now, adult passengers on Northwest can join us in toasting this historic milestone,'' said Joe Jones, Miller general manager of sales for Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Anheuser-Busch did not immediately return a message left Thursday.
Shares of Anheuser-Busch fell 41 cents to $47.44 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where they have traded in the range of $44.85 to $54.74 over the past year.
Northwest shares rose 1 cent to $4.82 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, having reached a 52-week low of $4.71 earlier in the session.
