Northwest Airlines named NWA Cargo President Jim Friedel to the new position of senior vice president-Pacific, adding the responsibilities to his role running the United States' largest combinational airline freight business.

The position puts Friedel, a leading advocate of booking technology in the air cargo industry, within the senior leadership of the main passenger operations at the carrier.

"Jim's vast cargo experience in the Asia/Pacific region will be a strong asset as he leads our efforts to leverage the combination of Northwest's major passenger and cargo presence in this key region," said Phil Haan, Northwest's executive vice president of international, alliances and information technology and chairman of NWA Cargo.

In his new role, Friedel will have profit and loss responsibility for Northwest's Asia/Pacific cargo and passenger business.

"The Asia/Pacific region continues to be the most rapidly developing part of the global economy," said Friedel. "I look forward to working with the passenger and cargo teams to ensure that Northwest continues to be a strong and nimble competitor."

Friedel has been at Northwest for 14 years and at NWA Cargo since 1996. He holds an economics degree from Princeton University and worked at Mercer Management Consulting before joining Northwest.