North Central's route system actually diminished a bit for 1954. Prior to this year, it was decided to drop the routes associated with what was known as the "Segment 5 Cities". These involved the route between Minneapolis/StPaul and Grand Forks with stops in Brainerd, Bemidji, and Thief River Falls and the route between Minneapolis/StPaul and Fargo with stops in St Cloud, Alexandria, and Fergus Falls. However, the airline began to turn around financially when Hal Carr returned to the airline as president and upon further review, Mr. Carr decided to petition the Civil Aeronautics Board to keep the Minneapolis/StPaul - Grand Forks route, provided that service to Brainerd would be seasonal. The CAB approved a temporary extension of service to this part of "Segment 5" and, along with a substantial increase in frequency throughout the North Central system, turned the increasing losses for the operation into a net profit for the year.

Service to the Minneapolis/StPaul - Fargo route was suspended on October 29th. An application to the CAB was also filed for year-round service to International Falls with a temporary authorization granted.

The North Central aircraft fleet remained at a total of 18 DC-3's, however each aircraft would cycle through maintenance for an interior upgrade along with a passenger capacity increase from 21 to 26. The first stewardesses were also hired by popular demand with the male stewards being phased out.