67-684: Midway Airlines was the name of two different, defunct airlines of the United States: Midway Airlines (1976–1991) , airline based in Chicago, Illinois Midway Airlines (1993–2003) , airline based in Morrisville, North Carolina Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Midway Airlines . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
134-482: A new airline using the name in 1993. That later Midway Airlines went bankrupt in 2003. in 1987, David Hinson said that the key to Midway's survival was staying small and keeping out of the way of the big carriers. About the airline business he said, “if you are careful and prudent, you can survive and do relatively well.” As the Philadelphia strategy turned sour, David Hinson repeatedly defended Midway as being
201-559: A recession in July 1990 . Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, pitching the US into the Gulf War , inducing an oil price shock and an immediate decline in air travel. On October 19, 1990 less than a year after starting the hub, Midway announced it was leaving Philadelphia. A silver lining was that USAir paid Midway $ 68mm for the former Eastern Philly gates (and Canadian routes). USAir's payment
268-412: A Dornier 228 aircraft. The FAA determined that braking pressure had bled out from one of the main landing gear brakes. The over-riding parking brake valve prohibited the pilot from being able to actuate the pilot brakes causing the aircraft to yaw and strike one of the other nearby parked aircraft. Midway Connection had two bird strike incidents involving geese. The first incident involved a goose striking
335-446: A June 1988 weekday, Midway scheduled 116 nonstop flights into Midway Airport from 25 airports, along with 75 Midway Connection nonstops from 17 other airports. They flew Chicago Midway (MDW) - Miami (MIA) - Saint Croix (STX) - St. Thomas (STT) round trip as well as Chicago Midway (MDW) - Fort Lauderdale (FLL) - Nassau (NAS) round trip; aside from those, all Chicago flights were nonstop to and from Midway Airport. Midway Airlines′ peak year
402-442: A Midway founder and founding board member, taking over. The airline announced cutbacks and layoffs (Midway Express was unaffected) and ended Metrolink. In May, Hinson warded off an attempted proxy fight by other (departed) founders, including Carlson, wanting to return the airline to its original business model. At the time of Bass’s departure, Hinson defended Metrolink, but one of Midway’s responses against dissident shareholders
469-534: A metallized PET film coating originally, but this proved too costly to maintain. Zamparelli also designed the uniforms of the flight attendants in the new colors, primarily in Sundance Yellow trimmed with Universe Blue. After the sale in October 1980 the all-yellow paint scheme was gradually replaced by Republic's white with blue and green trim. Aircraft tails bore Republic's flying mallard , "Herman
536-464: A month after agreeing to the deal, it pulled out, accusing Midway of showing inaccurate revenue figures for 1990 and ostensibly worried about environmental liability at Midway Airport. Northwest had huge debts of its own, having been taken private in a leveraged buyout in 1989. Some believed Northwest saw the Midway deal as risking a simultaneous deal to get funding from the state of Minnesota. Whatever
603-444: A simulator facility. The strategy produced profits, but margins that never challenged that achieved in 1981. However, during this period much larger airlines like Eastern , Pan Am , America West Airlines , Continental , People Express , etc, all made (at least at times) heavy losses, and other high profile names like Pacific Southwest Airlines and Western Airlines merged out of existence. Midway stood out just by surviving. On
670-551: A total of 124). 1991 also marked the bankruptcy of America West Airlines and its subsequent reduction in capacity in Phoenix , where Southwest and America West were fierce rivals, opening up yet more opportunity. Nonetheless, that moment was the start of Southwest’s dominance at Midway Airport. As of March 2024, Southwest's Midway market share was over 85%. A group of investors bought the Midway Airlines name and started
737-460: A “minor setback”. In October the bankruptcy court approved a $ 175mm takeover offer by Northwest Airlines , including assuming remaining aircraft and employees. The court rejected a smaller, $ 110mm bid by Southwest, which did not offer to take aircraft or employees. Midway lost $ 36mm since filing Chapter 11, against projected income of $ 6.5mm, and was down to $ 4mm in cash. Northwest ran newspaper ads saying customers could book Midway with confidence but
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#1732783215007804-549: The hijacking by D. B. Cooper of Northwest Orient flight 305, Hughes Airwest was the target of a copycat hijacker in early 1972. After boarding Flight 800 at McCarran airport in Las Vegas in late morning on Thursday, January 20, 23-year-old Richard Charles LaPoint claimed he had a bomb while the plane was on the taxiway and demanded $ 50,000 cash, two parachutes , and a helmet. When these demands were met, 51 Reno -bound passengers and two flight attendants were released;
871-618: The CAB with a mandate for reform, changing the nature and tempo of CAB decisions. The Carter administration and Congress were in favor of opening up Midway Airport to low-cost air travel. The CAB announced in August 1977 that it would decide the Midway airport proceeding by August 1978, incredibly fast by prior CAB standards. The August 1978 CAB ruling (against a backdrop of the Airline Deregulation Act going through Congress)
938-407: The CAB with this idea. Founder Kenneth Carlson was in fact an SH&E vice president immediately prior to starting Midway Airlines. In response, Muse created a subsidiary, Midway (Southwest) Airway Co., which also applied to the CAB. Muse wanted to connect Midway Airport to 15 cities about 200–500 miles from Chicago, while Midway Airlines took a smaller list of six cities to the CAB. Midway Airport
1005-533: The DC-9 departed eastward toward Denver , followed by two F-111 aircraft of the U.S. Air Force from nearby Nellis AFB . The parachutes were high-visibility and equipped with emergency locator devices. Without a coat and in cowboy boots , the hijacker bailed out from the lower aft door over the treeless plains of northeastern Colorado in mid-afternoon. LaPoint was apprehended a few hours later, with minor injuries and very cold. The plane, with two pilots and
1072-623: The Duck." Air West and Hughes Airwest operated the following aircraft types at various times during their existence: This is a list of destinations taken from the Air West system timetable dated July 1, 1968, when the merger to form Air West became effective. Cities served with jets are noted in bold . Air West was operating Boeing 727-100 , Douglas DC-9-10 , and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets, as well as Fairchild F-27 turboprops and small Piper Navajo twin props at this time. The majority of
1139-557: The Fischer Brothers management team (including Vice President of Operations Armando Cardenas, Chief Pilot Mark Zweidinger, Vice President of Customer Service Mark Fisher, Director of Maintenance Craig Anderson and Personnel Manager Cynthia Baldwin) and was led by Midway Airlines executive Richard Pfennig. Offers of employment were extended to the pilots and maintenance team that wanted to relocate. Gordon Jones, Vice President of Maintenance and Jerry Turpstra, Chief Inspector joined
1206-487: The Midwest states, including Wisconsin (Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, Oshkosh), Michigan (Traverse City, Grand Rapids, Muskegeon, Lansing, Kalamazoo), Indiana (South Bend, Ft. Wayne, Indianapolis, Lafayette), Illinois (Bloomington, Champaign, Moline-Quad Cities, Peoria and their home base Springfield, Illinois), and Ohio (Toledo). This Midway Connection service was a wholly owned subsidiary of Midway Airlines, and although it
1273-624: The San Francisco peninsula . Its new headquarters were located in San Mateo. The airline scheduled the move to a new headquarters in late August 1973; the complex was on a hill overlooking San Mateo and San Francisco Bay. The airline relocated two departments from the offices at San Francisco International Airport: flight control and reservations. Hughes Airwest's planes were recognizable by their banana-yellow fuselage and tail colors. Their airplanes were often dubbed "flying bananas" and
1340-597: The airline industry, TWA 's former owner Howard Hughes sought the airline in 1968, and the US$ 90 million deal was finalized in April 1970. Renamed Hughes Air West , its call sign became "Hughes Air," and the airline expanded to several cities in the western United States, Canada, and Mexico. With the new yellow paint scheme, unveiled in September 1971, the airline began calling itself Hughes Airwest , two words instead of
1407-515: The airline launched an advertising campaign with the catchphrase "Top Banana in the West." Most nicknames given to Hughes Airwest airplanes in aviation books and magazines have to do with bananas. Apart from their all-yellow scheme, the airplanes also featured a blue logo on the vertical stabilizer (tail) that resembled three diamonds connected (possibly a reference to the initials of Howard Hughes). The name Hughes Airwest , in stylized lettering,
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#17327832150071474-514: The airline said Midway Express made a profit of $ 1.4mm for Midway pre-merger. Money-losing Metrolink service made even less sense alongside profitable all-economy class Florida service. 1984 results also included a $ 1.5mm writeoff for an expensive abortive attempt to establish a helicopter service between Midway, O’Hare and Meigs Field , to be called Chicago Airlink . In January 1985, Bass resigned, followed by Meehan in February, with David Hinson,
1541-424: The airline to head towards a November 1, 1979 launch. In September 1979, the CAB gave 15 airlines the right to fly those other 24 routes from Midway. One was Federal Express , having obtained Boeing 737-200QC aircraft with which it wanted to fly packages at night and passengers during the day. This was Fedex’s “Project Torso”, in which Fedex founder Fred Smith briefly considered the idea of passenger service. At
1608-478: The airline was grounded for two months by a walkout by their ticket agents, reservations handlers, and office employees, who had been without a contract for over a year. During 1979, several airlines showed interest in buying Hughes Airwest, including Alaska and Allegheny , with the latter soon becoming USAir . The strike was resolved in late October and flights resumed in November. Four months later they were
1675-510: The airplanes, passing them to a lessor to purchase and leasing them back. Midway provided working capital to get the remains of Air Florida back in the air in October 1984, which flew under contract to Midway (with Midway marketing and selling tickets) as “Midway Express” until August 1985, when the Air Florida purchase closed and Midway Express shifted to full Midway Airlines branding. Florida service worked. In Midway’s 1985 annual report,
1742-554: The airport, then “virtually a ghost town”. Muse said, in part, “…you could do exactly the same thing at Midway that Southwest has done at Love Field in Dallas…” Muse said he discussed this idea in the offices of airline consultants Simat, Helliesen & Eichner (SH&E), where partner John Eichner was a friend of Muse. Two other SH&E consultants took the idea to former Hughes Airwest executive Irving Tague and incorporated Midway Airlines (October 13, 1976) to be first in line with
1809-482: The bankrupt carrier. Further investment included hiring, refurbishing the aircraft and the former Eastern space in Philly, and heavy marketing to introduce east coast residents to Midway. Hinson’s rationale was that Midway was reaching the limits of growth in Chicago, it needed a second hub and this was its best opportunity. The Philly hub was supposed to help drive Midway annual revenue to $ 2bn within two years. Philly
1876-445: The board was dissatisfied by the airline’s discount image and some of those promotions. Chicago was particularly badly affected by the extended disruption caused by the August 1981 air traffic controllers strike . United Airlines grounded 50 aircraft, and Midway found itself unable to fully employ eight DC-9-30s it acquired from Ansett Australia . A new Boston route failed in the face of severe competition. Consequently, results for
1943-551: The destinations on this list that did not have jet service were served with F-27 twin turboprops. ARIZONA: CALIFORNIA: IDAHO: MONTANA: NEVADA: OREGON: UTAH: WASHINGTON: CANADA: MEXICO: In 1980, Hughes Airwest was an all-jet airline operating Boeing 727-200 , Douglas DC-9-10 , and McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 aircraft. The timetable for September 1 lists service to: ARIZONA: CALIFORNIA: COLORADO: IDAHO: IOWA: MONTANA: NEVADA: OREGON: TEXAS: UTAH: WASHINGTON: WISCONSIN: CANADA: MEXICO: On
2010-483: The entire United States to airline competition. While Southwest continued to participate in Midway CAB cases, it took no practical steps towards service: Southwest would not enter Midway until 1985. Even with the way relatively clear, Midway Airlines found it hard to raise money, Chicago investors were generally uninterested. On August 2, 1979, Midway announced it had raised $ 5.7mm from 16 private investors, allowing
2077-532: The evening of Sunday, June 6, 1971, Flight 706, a Douglas DC-9-31 collided in mid-air with a U.S. Marine Corps F-4B fighter over southern California near Duarte . All 49 on the airliner and the F-4 pilot were killed; the sole survivor was the F-4 radar intercept officer . Flight 706 had departed Los Angeles for Seattle , with five intermediate stops, the first in Salt Lake City . Two months after
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2144-432: The favored airport of the Chicago business traveler, similar to New York LaGuardia or Dallas Love Field . Midway Airport, at the time, had no jetways, and suffered from a lack of maintenance on the part of the city. Bass and Meehan instituted “Metrolink” branded all-business class service, with four-abreast seating, a “business center” at Midway airport, jetways and other amenities. Florida service, which Linkon started,
2211-462: The first quarter of 1982 were poor, as with the rest of the industry. In a long-planned move, directors fired Linkon in July 1982, shortly after Midway achieved a profitable second quarter, one in which most of the industry made a loss. New Midway Chair/CEO Arthur Bass was part of the founding management, and a former president, of Federal Express. Bass hired Neal Meehan, founding CEO of New York Air , as president. They aimed to make Midway Airport
2278-808: The head of the Federal Aviation Administration under President Bill Clinton . Gordon Linkon, the president who achieved Midway's highest annual operating margin in 1981, went on to found Florida Express . Canada Caribbean United States In 1987 Midway Airlines purchased commuter air carrier Fischer Brothers Aviation based in Galion, Ohio, and moved the entire operation to Springfield, Illinois. Fischer Brothers Aviation had previously operated Allegheny Commuter service for Allegheny Airlines and successor USAir and then began operating Northwest Airlink service on behalf of Northwest Airlines . The initial move consisted of
2345-557: The initial three. The airline participated in some movies in the 1970s, notably The Gauntlet with Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke in 1977 . Eastwood's character arrives in Las Vegas from Phoenix on the airline and when he phones the airport for flight departure times, Locke's character sarcastically called the airline, "Air Worst ." Also in 1977, the airline was operating service from both Burbank (BUR) and Orange County (SNA) to Denver (DEN) via an interchange flight agreement with
2412-422: The inner wing between the engine and the fuselage. During the incident the bird was also struck by the propeller and a portion of the carcass was thrown through the passenger window striking a passenger. The second involved a goose striking one of the landing gear sponsons causing substantial damage to the fairing and structure. Midway operated a frequent flyer program called FlyersFirst. Upon cessation of service,
2479-409: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Midway_Airlines&oldid=1122101444 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Midway Airlines (1976%E2%80%931991) Midway Airlines
2546-519: The management group in June 1987. Mr. Pfennig took control of the operation and was able to quickly get the company through certification flights. In May 1987 the commuter started scheduled passenger flights. The initial operation consisted of 21 employees, the original seven Dornier 228 turboprop aircraft and eventually ended with 125 employees, 28 Dornier aircraft and 13 Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia turboprop aircraft. Midway Connection operated to cities in
2613-614: The original Frontier Airlines . Hughes Airwest soon introduced its own jet service to Denver from a number of locations. Like other local service airlines in the 1970s, Hughes Airwest eliminated many stops and opened longer routes. Service expanded to resorts in Mexico; domestic routes didn't reach east of Utah and Arizona until Denver, Des Moines, Milwaukee, and Houston Hobby Airport were added in 1978. When it ended F-27 turboprop flights in 1979, Hughes Airwest became an all-jet airline with 727-200s, DC-9-10s, and DC-9-30s. In September 1979 ,
2680-494: The program ended and mileage credits were not transferred to any other program. Hughes Airwest Hughes Air Corporation , doing business as Hughes Airwest , was a local service carrier from 1970 to 1980 in the Western United States . It was backed by Howard Hughes ' Summa Corporation . Its original name in 1968 was Air West and the air carrier was owned by Nick Bez . Hughes Airwest flew routes in
2747-453: The progress of US airline deregulation, for which the inflection point was the high-profile 1975 Senate hearings on the CAB by Senator Ted Kennedy . Prior to these, certification of significant new airline was unthinkable, it hadn’t happened in decades. After the hearings, there was a sense of possibility, which is why, in 1976, the idea of Midway Airlines was plausible. In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed economist Alfred Kahn to run
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2814-679: The reason, Midway ceased flying November 13, 1991. Having let Midway collapse, Northwest faced significant political anger in Chicago while Southwest, just by adding some service and hiring what Midway employees it could, looked good by contrast. Midway Airlines had long proved there was a market at Midway Airport, Southwest wanted to add more Midway service but was constrained by a need to address other opportunities. In early 1991, USAir and American Airlines exited most of their California networks, inherited from Pacific Southwest Airlines and AirCal respectively, and Southwest grew its planned 1991 fleet expansion plan from 11 to 18 aircraft in response (to
2881-569: The select Midway routes they asked for. In addition, Midway and the Southwest Midway subsidiary were both given economic certification as well. Further, the CAB opened another proceeding for another 24 Midway Airport routes. Given what looked like substantial future service at Midway Airport, there were serious doubt Midway Airlines would attract sufficient investment. However, only Midway Airlines made subsequent moves toward Midway Airport, because as of January 1979, deregulation opened up
2948-563: The short, high-performance version of the MD-80 , to allow the airline to reach to the west coast, at the time a non-trivial feat from Midway Airport’s short runways. Midway acquired its own regional airline subsidiary, Midway Commuter, to fly from Midway to smaller cities around Chicago. 75% of Midway Commuter passengers connected to mainline flights at Midway airport. Midway had its own maintenance facility in Miami (an Air Florida legacy) and built
3015-413: The tail of the aircraft. The aircraft sustained minor damage and returned to Springfield, Illinois. The door was found in a field later that month. During a passenger flight, a repair of the previous tail damage came loose inflight and departed the aircraft. The damage was found during inspection by the first officer for the next flight. During engine start up procedures, a parking brake was left engaged on
3082-472: The target of a buyout by Republic Airlines , which was finalized on October 1, 1980, for $ 38.5 million. Minneapolis -based Republic had formed in July 1979 via the merger of North Central Airlines and Southern Airways , the first under airline deregulation . Republic was acquired by Northwest Airlines in 1986 , which merged into Delta Air Lines in 2010 . The original headquarters were in two buildings in downtown San Mateo, California , on
3149-498: The time, Fedex had a highly profitable monopoly on overnight delivery growing at 40% per year. Ultimately, none of the 15, other than Midway, used this broad new authority. Midway started on November 1, 1979 on three routes: Detroit, Cleveland and Kansas City. Midway’s original business model remained inspired by Southwest, but instead of Southwest’s 118-seat 737s, Midway started with three 83-seat DC-9-10s. Midway’s fares were below those of conventional competitors at O’Hare and there
3216-461: The victim of circumstance. The circumstances facing the US airline business in the early 1990s were indeed poor, as reflected in deep industry losses during this period. But the 1989 decision to bulk up Midway and attack the much larger USAir was the exact opposite of what Hinson advocated only two years earlier and the carrier's end was a direct result of that. After Midway Airlines, David Hinson went on to work for McDonnell Douglas and served as
3283-435: The western U.S. and to several destinations in Mexico and Canada; its headquarters were on the grounds of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in unincorporated San Mateo County, California . With distinctive all-yellow aircraft, the company slogan was Top Banana in the West ; Hughes Airwest was purchased by Republic Airlines in 1980, which in turn was merged into Northwest Airlines in 1986. Northwest Airlines
3350-409: Was 1989, when it flew 10.1 billion revenue passenger-kilometers, compared to 0.6 billion in 1981. In March 1989 Eastern Air Lines faced a debilitating strike, tipping it into Chapter 11. As part of Eastern's attempts to raise cash, in June, Midway bought the Philadelphia gates (and other assets, such as routes to Toronto and Montreal from Philly) as well as 16 DC-9 aircraft for $ 210mm from
3417-630: Was a United States airline based in Chicago, Illinois . It was incorporated on October 13, 1976, by Kenneth T. Carlson , Irving T. Tague and William B. Owens , filing with the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) for an airline operating certificate. Although it received its operating certificate from the CAB prior to the passage of the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, it was viewed as the first post-deregulation start-up. The airline commenced operations on November 1, 1979. The airline
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#17327832150073484-775: Was a flashpoint for critics of airline regulation because the CAB-regulated industry failed to resuscitate the airport, a priority for the City of Chicago and the Illinois congressional delegation . Muse said in July 1977 Congressional airline deregulation hearings (when total airline service at Midway was two Delta flights/day) that, based on its experience in Texas, Southwest would, within a year, carry five million passengers per year through Midway with 92 737 departures/weekday (79 per day on weekends). But Southwest’s board of directors
3551-513: Was an independent operation, it was completely operated as a "feeder" for the "mainline" operation via a code sharing agreement. Dispatch and Maintenance for the airline was conducted in Springfield, Illinois, while reservations were supported through Midway Airlines in Chicago utilizing the SABRE reservations system. Iowa Airways also operated Midway Connection code share service and in 1989
3618-653: Was dropped. Metrolink failed. 1983 and 1984 financial results were poor, with losses greatly exceeding the cumulative profits of 1981 and 1982. Meanwhile, in 1984, reacting to a proposal from Air Florida executives, Midway acquired, in stages, the remains of that bankrupt carrier. There were two attractions (1) winter demand to offset the seasonality of the Metrolink system and (2) Air Florida’s slots at airports like LaGuardia and Washington National . The deal nominally cost Midway $ 53mm, most of that ($ 35mm) for three Air Florida 737-200 aircraft. In fact, Midway never paid for
3685-462: Was featured unconventionally below the front passenger windows. This livery was devised by the southern California design firm of Mario Armond Zamparelli , following the crash of Flight 706 in June 1971, caused by a mid-air collision with a U.S. Marine Corps F-4B jet fighter near Duarte , California. In late 1971, the company launched a new marketing campaign which included new colors and repainted planes. The cabin windows also had
3752-636: Was flying nonstop between Midway Airport and Benton Harbor, Flint, and Kalamazoo in Michigan, Dubuque in Iowa and Elkhart in Indiana with Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante turboprops. Midway Airlines had no aircraft accidents. Midway Connection had only 3 minor incidents and 2 large bird strike incidents. During initial FAA flight proving runs, a cabin door on the Dornier 228 aircraft opened in flight and struck
3819-494: Was good news/bad news for Midway Airlines; it got what it wanted but so did everyone. Midway argued to the CAB that it deserved (as the self-proclaimed innovator) Midway Airport to itself, at least for a time, to become established. But the CAB noted Southwest might be the innovator (see prior section) and projections showed Southwest to be the low-cost applicant. Nonetheless, Midway, Southwest and local service airline North Central each got all six routes and Northwest and Delta got
3886-528: Was never highly or consistently profitable, but unlike many bigger and/or more prominent airlines (e.g. Braniff , People Express , Western Airlines and Piedmont Airlines ) which disappeared through bankruptcy or mergers, it survived the 1980s. Unfortunately, the carrier perished soon after attempting to grow substantially by purchasing the Philadelphia hub of bankrupt Eastern Air Lines . This led directly to Midway’s March 1991 Chapter 11 filing. A deal
3953-449: Was no food on board. In 1980, it expanded to 5 DC-9-10s. The airline ran unconventional offers like penny sales, offering the return trip at a penny with the outbound at the usual fare to fill up off-peak days. At times this caused chaos as customers rushed to the airport to buy such tickets. But the strategy worked. Midway was solidly profitable in 1981 (see nearby table), in only its second full year of operation. The 1981 operating margin
4020-607: Was not supportive and Midway became a focus of Muse's feud with Southwest founder Rollin King , which led to Muse's resignation from Southwest in March 1978. This helped clear the way for Midway Airlines. Muse accurately predicted Midway's future importance to Southwest: as of March 5, 2024, Southwest scheduled up to 249 departures per day at Midway. Midway Airport reached Muse's predicted five million annual passengers/year in 1987. Midway Airlines' progress from concept to reality reflected
4087-404: Was notable for breathing new life into Midway International Airport , then called Chicago Midway Airport, which was almost deserted when Midway started operations. The carrier was also notable for pursuing at least three distinct business models during its life, starting as a discount carrier, moving to an all business-class airline before ending its life as a more conventional hub carrier. Midway
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#17327832150074154-548: Was one of several major commitments in 1989. Midway ordered 29 McDonnell Douglas MD-82s for a nominal $ 900mm as well as a nominal $ 244mm for 33 Dornier 328 turboprops for Midway Connection. It also reintroduced first class on all routes. Philadelphia had dominant incumbent hub operator, the much larger USAir . At the end of 1989, Midway had 61 jets vs 441 for USAir. Midway's Philly hub launched November 15, 1989. Fuel prices were up significantly in early 1990 over 1989, while Florida fares dropped significantly. The US entered
4221-447: Was small next to Midway’s total Philly stranded investment but it was something. Midway’s 1990 losses vastly exceeded the sum total of every profitable year Midway ever had, but in fact the previous record loss in 1989 was also due to Philly: Midway had made a small profit in the first three quarters of 1989 and the 1989 substantial fourth quarter loss was Philly-driven. Midway filed for Chapter 11 in March 1991, Hinson describing it as
4288-527: Was struck to sell the company, still operating in bankruptcy, to Northwest Airlines , which backed out at the last minute, leaving Midway dead in November 1991. A group of investors, including Carlson, bought the airline's name (for $ 20,000) and started another Midway Airlines , which flew from 1993 to 2003. In June 1976, Lamar Muse , founding president of Southwest Airlines , testified to Congress. Representative John G. Fary , whose district contained Midway Airport, asked if Muse had any ideas how to revive
4355-513: Was the highest full-year operating margin Midway would ever attain. Early Midway was marked by significant management turnover. Some founders (like Carlson) were gone by 1980 and in early 1982, Irving Tague took a leave of absence for “personal reasons,” with David Hinson becoming acting chair. Gordon Linkon, ex- Frontier , was made President in 1980, embracing the low-cost ethic. Midway went public in December 1980, 850,000 shares at $ 13.50. But
4422-429: Was then merged into Delta Air Lines in 2010. On April 17, 1968, three earlier local service carriers in the western U.S. merged to form Air West : The initial Air West fleet included Boeing 727-100s, Douglas DC-9s, Fairchild F-27s, and Piper Navajos. The first new addition to the Air West fleet was a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30, which had been ordered by Bonanza Air Lines. Hungry for another adventure in
4489-456: Was to note that the Bass team was gone. Hinson wanted Midway to be “more like other airlines,” and Midway became a conventional hub airline, the differentiator being Midway Airport. The DC-9s were converted to two-class seating and Midway built out its network to both business and leisure destinations (cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix ) from coast to coast, acquiring McDonnell Douglas MD-87s ,
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