Midwest Airlines (formerly Midwest Express Airlines) was an airline in the United States headquartered in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, that operated from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport between 1984 and 2010. For a short time, it also operated as a brand of Republic Airways Holdings."Contact Us." Midwest Airlines. Archived November 21, 2008.
Operations as an independent airline ceased in November 2010, upon its merger with Frontier Airlines.
History K-C Aviation Midwest Airlines began in 1948, when Kimberly-Clark began providing air transportation for company executives and engineers between the company's Neenah, Wisconsin headquarters and its mills. Operating out of the nearby Appleton International Airport, early employee shuttle destinations included Chicago O'Hare, Memphis, and Atlanta's Fulton County Airport.
In 1969, K-C Aviation was born from this, and was dedicated to the maintenance of corporate aircraft. K-C Aviation was sold in 1998 to Gulfstream Aerospace for $250 million; included were its operations in Appleton, Dallas, and Westfield, Massachusetts.
Midwest Express Airlines After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Kimberly-Clark and K-C Aviation decided to form a regularly scheduled passenger airline, and Midwest Express Airlines began operations on June 11, 1984. At the time the airline had two Douglas DC-9-10 twin-engine jets and 83 employees.Midwest history exhibit at Mitchell Museum of Flight at the Milwaukee Airport Early plans for the airline called for it to serve Appleton, Chicago, and Atlanta. Kimberly-Clark then opted against this plan with regard to the Atlanta service after local resistance over the carrier's desire to serve Atlanta's Fulton County Airport, which is a general aviation airport located on the city's west side. From 1983 to 1985, the airline also operated a single Convair 580 twin-turboprop aircraft provided by Kimberly-Clark's corporate aviation department on corporate shuttle flights for Kimberly-Clark.
The airline slowly grew, adding additional DC-9 aircraft to its fleet, including larger McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30 jets, with a total of 24 by the end of 1996. Eventually, Midwest Express Airlines served most major Midwestern and East Coast destinations. Its longtime slogan, "The Best Care in the Air", represented its inflight product. For many years, all flights featured 2-by-2 leather seating (in aircraft usually fitted with 3-2 seating), ample legroom, complimentary gourmet meals, and warm chocolate chip cookies. This made the airline popular with business travelers. In addition, Midwest Express operated a sizable executive charter operation with a specially configured DC-9.
In 1989, Midwest Express added two McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft to its fleet, acquiring eleven additional aircraft between 1998 and 2001. These enabled the airline to expand services to the West Coast and Florida. 1989 also saw the addition of commuter airline feeder services operated by Skyway Airlines. Skyway was a division of Mesa Airlines using Beechcraft 1900 aircraft providing service to small communities in Wisconsin and the surrounding region. Midwest Express experienced steady growth and continued profitability, opening an additional hub in Omaha, Nebraska in early 1995. In 1994 Midwest Express established Astral Aviation to take over the operation of Skyway Airlines, dba Midwest Express Connection and Fairchild Dornier 328JETs were added in 1999. Kimberly-Clark relinquished its ownership in two initial public offerings on September 22, 1995, and May 8, 1996.Flight International April 12–18, 2005 The airline's new parent company, Midwest Air Group, traded on the American Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "MEH."
Midwest Express Airlines also added Midwest Vacations in the 1990s, naming GOGO Worldwide Vacations as the original partner to provide hotel service and later partnering with Mark Travel.
In 1997, according to the Midwest Express timetable, the airline was code sharing with Virgin Atlantic Airways for flights between London Heathrow Airport and Milwaukee and Kansas City with passengers connecting between the two air carriers in Boston.
After fourteen years of profit-making, Midwest Express Airlines was affected with serious financial problems after the September 11 terrorist attacks. To return to profitability, the airline made major changes. The Omaha hub was reduced to a focus city in early 2002, with hub status transferred to Kansas City. Some MD-80 series aircraft were reconfigured into a new "Saver Service", featuring cloth coach seats in a 2-by-3 arrangement. Saver Service, while decreasing the width of the seats, continued to feature ample legroom. This service was initially offered from the Milwaukee and Kansas City hubs to leisure destinations such as Florida, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and Phoenix on McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft. The airline's Signature Service was also affected by financial difficulties. The signature gourmet meal services, which had been served on china after being cooked on board, were discontinued in 2002 and replaced with a buy-on-board product.
Midwest Express Airlines destinations in 1984 Midwest Express was serving the following destinations in October 1984:
Appleton, WI (ATW) Boston, MA (BOS) Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) Newark, NJ (EWR) Milwaukee, WI (MKE) – hub & airline headquarters
By 1985, Atlanta (ATL) had been added to the route system with service to Newark being discontinued at this time and by 1986 flights had been begun to Madison, Wisconsin (MSN), New York City LaGuardia Airport (LGA) and Washington, D.C. National Airport (DCA). All service was flown nonstop between Milwaukee and these destinations, with the exception of a nonstop route between Appleton and Newark in 1984 that had been discontinued by 1985.
Midwest Express Airlines destinations in 2001 The airline was serving the following destinations in June 2001:
Appleton, WI (ATW) Atlanta, GA (ATL) Boston, MA (BOS) Cleveland, OH (CLE) Columbus, OH (CMH) Dallas/Fort Worth, TX (DFW) Denver, CO (DEN) Des Moines, IA (DSM) Fort Lauderdale, FL (FLL) – seasonal service Fort Myers, FL (RSW) – seasonal service Hartford, CT (BDL) Kansas City, MO (MCI) – focus city Las Vegas, NV (LAS) Los Angeles (LAX) Madison, WI (MSN) Milwaukee, WI (MKE) – primary hub & airline headquarters Newark, NJ (EWR) New Orleans, LA (MSY) New York City, NY – LaGuardia Airport (LGA) Omaha, NE (OMA) – secondary hub Orlando, FL (MCO) Philadelphia, PA (PHL) Raleigh/Durham, NC (RDU) San Antonio, TX (SAT) San Francisco, CA (SFO) – seasonal service Tampa, FL (TPA) – seasonal service Washington, D.C. – Dulles International Airport (IAD) Washington, D.C. – Reagan National Airport (DCA)
In early 2002 Kansas City became a secondary hub for the airline while Omaha was reduced to a focus city.
Midwest Airlines
In 2002, the airline made another major change, shortening its name from Midwest Express Airlines to simply Midwest Airlines. A major reason for the change was the modern association of "express" with a regional airline, which Midwest was not. At the same time, Midwest's commuter airline subsidiary changed its name from Skyway Airlines, the Midwest Express Connection, to Midwest Connect. In a move to save money on jet fuel, the airline accelerated the replacement of DC-9 aircraft with the Boeing 717-200. On May 23, 2006, Midwest Airlines accepted one of the last two Boeing 717s delivered in a ceremony with AirTran Airways, who accepted the other 717. Midwest also announced that selected MD-80 aircraft would leave the fleet.
In May 2005, Midwest announced a new buy-on-board meal service for customers. The new program was a change from the previous 'In-flight Cafe' and featured chefs and inspiration from the renowned Mader's restaurant. Chocolate chip cookies continued to be baked on the plane and served warm.
Midwest became the largest longstanding operation at Mitchell Airport and served 21 cities nonstop (San Antonio (SAT) as well as Orange County, CA (SNA) were served from Milwaukee with one stop flights via Kansas City in 2005), while its regional partner Skyway Airlines, operating as Midwest Connect, served nearly 30 destinations throughout the Central United States.
In 2006, a second regional airline, SkyWest Airlines, began providing feeder service as Midwest Connect along with Skyway. SkyWest flew Bombardier CRJ100/200 regional jets. Skyway was later shut down in 2008 and service to many of the smaller cities served with Beech 1900's had ended.
On May 17, 2007, Midwest Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Northwest Airlines to form a codeshare agreement with them. The codeshare agreement added 250 city pairs and 1,000 new flight options for Midwest Airlines customers. Northwest routes that included the Midwest Airlines YX code were destinations beyond Northwest's hubs at Detroit, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Memphis throughout the United States and Canada. Midwest placed its code on Northwest flights from Indianapolis, then a Northwest focus city, as well as a number of Northwest-operated flights to Hawaii and Alaska. Routes operated by Midwest Airlines that carried the NW Northwest code were flights that connected at Midwest's Milwaukee and Kansas City hubs, as well as Omaha, a Midwest focus city. Northwest also code shared on Midwest Airlines-operated flights between Milwaukee and Kansas City to Atlanta, Boston, Hartford, Los Angeles and San Francisco that connected to the Northwest/KLM trans-Atlantic network and trans-Pacific network.
Midwest won more awards for exceptional service in Condé Nast Traveler magazine than any other U.S. airline, although it won no further awards from the magazine after ceasing to be an independent company.
Signature and Saver service added On May 29, 2007, Midwest announced the next phase of the company's strategic plan, which offered customers the choice of Signature and Saver seating on all flights. The dual-seating option, replacing the original 88-seat configuration, was available on the airline's Boeing 717s until their retirement. The same amenities were provided to all passengers in either cabin, including leather seats.
The new configuration consisted of 40 Signature leather seats, arranged in 10 rows of two-by-two, offering a 36" pitch and providing 2 to 3 more inches of leg room than the previous Signature seating,http://www.midwestairlines.com/Templates/ContentTwoColumn.aspx?id=835 and 59 Saver seats arranged two-by-three which the company claimed were among the roomiest coach seats in the industry.
The company projected that the implementation of seating choices would generate $30–35 million in annualized revenue.
Acquisition by TPG In December 2006, AirTran Holdings Inc., owner of AirTran Airways, made public that in December 2005 it had approached the Board of Directors of Midwest Air Group—owner of Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect, and had asked the board to negotiate a sale of the company. That AirTran offer in 2005 was rebuffed by Midwest's board, which also rebuffed a second offer in late 2006. In December 2006, AirTran disclosed the rejection of both offers in hopes of bringing shareholder pressure on Midwest's board to reconsider, which the board recommended that shareholders reject.
On August 12, 2007, it was announced that AirTran had lost the bid for Midwest. A private equity group, headed by TPG Capital and including Northwest Airlines, purchased Midwest and turned the airline into a privately funded company. The inclusion of Northwest in the investing partners required anti-trust review from the United States Department of Justice, which reviews all airline mergers.