Air Midwest
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| Air Midwest | ||
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| IATA ZV |
ICAO AMW |
Callsign Air Midwest |
| Founded | 1965 | |
| Hubs | Kansas City Int'l Airport Pittsburgh Int'l Airport |
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| Focus cities / secondary hubs | Sky Harbor Airport | |
| Frequent flyer program | MesaMax | |
| Fleet size | 20 | |
| Destinations | 55 | |
| Parent company | Mesa Air Group, Inc. | |
| Headquarters | Wichita, Kansas | |
| Key people | Greg Stephens (President) | |
| Website: http://www.mesa-air.com | ||
- This article is about the regional airline based in Wichita, KS. For the article regarding the renamed Midwest Express, see Midwest Airlines.
Air Midwest (IATA: ZV, ICAO: AMW, and Callsign: Air Midwest) is a FAA Part 121 certificated air carrier operating under air carrier certificate number AMWA510A issued on May 15, 1965. It is headquartered in Wichita, Kansas and is a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group. It operates flights as US Airways Express, Midwest Express, and as Mesa Airlines. It serves 55 cities in 19 states.
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[edit] History
Air Midwest was founded in Wichita, Kansas in May 1965 by Gary Adamson as Aviation Services, Inc. Using a single Cessna 206, Adamson transported human remains for area mortuaries. Later, Aviation Services held out for charter and in 1967 began scheduled service flying between Wichita and Salina.
As Frontier Airlines withdrew from the western Kansas market in 1968, Aviation Services moved in to assume air service. In 1969, it changed its name to Air Midwest and ordered Beech 99 aircraft to keep up with its expansion.
By 1978, it was operating a fleet of 10 Metroliners and was expanding from Kansas and into New Mexico, Iowa, and Nebraska.
In 1985, Air Midwest merged with Scheduled Skyways, a Fayetteville, Arkansas based air carrier, in hopes of gaining a codeshare to feed Republic Airlines' Memphis hub. It seemed like a good merger for Air Midwest: Air Midwest would expand by acquiring routes in Arkansas to complement its existing routes in the midwest. Both carriers operated Metros, and Air Midwest had an opportunity to win a codeshare with Republic.
Unfortunately, Republic picked a different air carrier to feed its Memphis hub. Air Midwest discovered many hidden problems with the badly neglected aircraft of Scheduled Skyways, that forced it to perform the required maintenance to keep the aircraft flying. The next few years after the merger with Scheduled Skyways pushed Air Midwest to the verge of bankruptsy.
Although Air Midwest was unsuccessful in gaining a codeshare with Republic through the Scheduled Skyways merger, it was able to acquire codeshare agreements with Ozark Airlines as Ozark Midwest, Eastern Airlines as Eastern Air Midwest Express, and American Airlines as American Eagle in 1985.
Continuing money problems forced Air Midwest to sell its Nashville hub and Saab 340 aircraft to American in 1987. TWA acquired Ozark in 1986 and forced Air Midwest to surrender some of its St Louis routes because TWA already had a code share partner in St Louis, ResortAir (today's TransStates Airlines).
Eastern abruptly pulled out of Kansas City leaving Air Midwest no one to feed. Air Midwest quickly negotiated a codeshare agreement with Braniff, just in time for Braniff to go bankrupt.
In 1990, Air Midwest negotiated a codeshare agreement with USAir. On July 12, 1991 Air Midwest published a message to all employees, "St. Louis hub sold to TransStates, all else to Mesa."
[edit] Operations under Mesa Air Group
From 1991 until 1997, Air Midwest operated 12 Beechcraft 1900s flying from its Kansas City hub as USAir Express. In 1997, Mesa Air Group underwent a corporate reorganization: Mesa Airline's FloridaGulf, Liberty Express, and Independent divisions were merged into Air Midwest.
Today, Air Midwest operates services for Essential Air Service and also has aircraft operating as America West Express under an agreement with America West Airlines in Phoenix and in independent operations as Mesa Airlines division of Albuquerque and Dallas/Fort Worth. Air Midwest operates for US Airways Express from hubs in Kansas City and Pittsburgh, with smaller operations at Phoenix and, beginning in February, Chicago Midway Airport. There are smaller operations at Charlotte, Washington-Dulles, Dallas and Omaha, Nebraska. There are currently 25 airplanes in service, down from a height of 118.
On January 9, 2003, Air Midwest had its first fatal accident when Air Midwest Flight 5481 departing out of Charlotte for Greenville-Spartanburg crashed 37 seconds after takeoff. All 19 passengers and two crewmembers were killed in the accident.
For a period of three weeks in August 2006, Air Midwest operated as Delta Connection, flying three Beechcraft 1900D from John F. Kennedy Airport to Providence, RI and Windsor Locks, Connecticut, as a stop-gap measure for Freedom Airlines, another subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, until it was relieved by Chatauqua Airlines.
Beginning in February 2007, Air Midwest will begin operations at Chicago Midway Airport in Chicago, Illinois to three Illinois airports: Decatur, Marion, and Quincy.
[edit] Destinations
Currently, Air Midwest serves 55 cities in 19 states.
[edit] Airline operations
Air Midwest operates as:
- US Airways Express using Beechcraft 1900D aircraft under a pro-rate codesharing agreement. Its hubs are in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City.
- Midwest Express from its US Airways Express Kansas City hub.
- Mesa Airlines using Beechcraft 1900D aircraft. Its hubs are in Albuquerque and Dallas-Fort Worth.
[edit] Pilot bases
- Athens, Georgia
- Cedar City, Utah
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Columbia, Missouri
- Dubois, Pennsylvania
- Farmington, New Mexico
- Garden City, Kansas
- Harrison, Arkansas
- Hobbs, New Mexico
- Jonesboro, Arkansas
- Joplin, Missouri
- Kansas City, Missouri
- Lancaster, Pennsylvania
- Massena, New York
- McCook, Nebraska
- Moab, Utah
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Roswell, New Mexico
- Salina, Kansas
[edit] Fleet
As of November, 2006 Air Midwest has 20 aircraft in its fleet consisting of:
| Type | Number | Passenger Capacity | Routes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beechcraft 1900D | 20 |
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Previous aircraft operated by Air Midwest include the Cessna 402, Beech 99, Metroliner, Jetstream 31 and the Saab 340.
[edit] Frequent flyer program
MesaMax applies to Mesa Airlines flights that are operated by Air Midwest. It consists of a card, upon which flights are recorded with a stamp. Once 16 stamps have been recorded, the card may be redeemed for a single round-trip ticket on Mesa Airlines flights.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Henderson, Danna (05-01-1989). "Robert Priddy's $1 million Midwest Gamble". Air Transport World (98). Retrieved on 09-22-2006.
- various (various). "Mesa Airlines Company Reports 1991-1993" (PDF). The Investext Group. Retrieved on 09-22-2006.
- Mesa Air Group (various). "1995-2005 Annual Reports". Retrieved on 09-22-2006.
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| Atlantic Southeast Airlines • Chautauqua Airlines • Comair • Freedom Airlines • Shuttle America • SkyWest Former Carriers: Air Midwest • Atlantic Coast Airlines • Business Express • Ransome Airlines • Rio Airways • Trans States Airlines |
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| Air Midwest • Air Wisconsin • Chautauqua Airlines • Colgan Air • Mesa Airlines • Piedmont Airlines • PSA Airlines • Republic Airlines • Trans States Airlines Former carriers: CCAir • CommutAir • Crown Airways • FloridaGulf Airlines • Jet Express • Liberty Express Airlines • Midway Airlines • Paradise Island Airlines • Potomac Air • Ransome Airlines • Shuttle America • Southern Jersey Airways • States West Airlines |
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