MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Northwest Airlines flight that was scheduled to leave from Minneapolis for Tokyo on Thursday afternoon finally took off Saturday morning - 43 hours late.

Mechanical problems and a lack of a crew had kept the Boeing 747-400 on the ground since its scheduled departure time of 3 p.m. on Thursday.

The flight was eventually canceled Thursday night and rescheduled for Friday morning.

But it never left, and instead was canceled Friday afternoon and rescheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday.

Mechanical problems delayed that departure for about two hours, spokeswoman Jennifer Bagdade said.

And there will be one more delay on the usually-nonstop flight.

Bagdade said the plane will have to stop in Anchorage, Alaska, for fuel. She wouldn't say why.

Bagdade said Northwest tried to rebook all the passengers on other flights, but many couldn't get tickets because those flights were full. The plane eventually left with about 100 fewer passengers than the 365 it was originally supposed to carry.

Northwest has apologized to the passengers and will pay for two nights' worth of food and lodging plans to give them $700 in travel certificates.

"It's certainly an unfortunate delay," said airline spokesman Kurt Ebenhoch. "We regret the inconvenience; we apologize. We work hard to avoid this. It happens to other airlines as well."