Midway Airlines (ML)

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This article is about the first Midway Airlines. For the more recent carrier, see Midway Airlines (JI).

Midway Airlines

IATA ML	ICAO MDW	Callsign Midway
Founded		1976, ceased 1991
Hubs		Chicago Midway Airport
Frequent flyer program		FlyersFirst (through Midway Airlines )
Fleet size		60
Destinations		40
Headquarters		Chicago, Illinois
Key people		David R. Hinson (CEO)
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Midway Airlines was founded on October 13, 1976, by investor Irving T. Tague. It was the last airline to receive its operating certificate under jurisdiction of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). The airline commenced operations in 1979.

The airline was intended to breathe new life into Chicago's Midway Airport, which had lost most of its scheduled flights to O'Hare International Airport. Midway Airlines and the revitalized airport were advertised as a trouble-free alternative to O'Hare, and both of these spurred re-development and growth on Chicago's south side. The airport was a convenient ten to fifteen minute drive from downtown Chicago.

Following the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Midway first emerged as a discount carrier. It was noted for its low fares and ease of connections at Midway Airport. The airline purchased three DC-9's from TWA and began flying to Cleveland, Kansas City, and Detroit. The scheduled service was an instant success and growth continued at a fast pace. In 1980, five more DC-9's were purchased and service was expanded to cities such as New York and Washington D.C. During the 1980's the airline attempted a combination of all-leather two-by-two seating to business markets and all-coach seating to vacation destinations. This idea was eventually dropped due to the impact on revenue caused by eliminating seats, and the confusion it created in the minds of connecting passengers.

The carrier expanded its services to both coasts and the Caribbean, via the purchase of the assets of the Air Florida, in 1984, which had gone into bankruptcy. This proved to be good mix of business travel and vacation travel revenue.

Midway Airlines flourished under the leadership of David R. Hinson (CEO 1985 to 1991), for the period 1986 - 1990; however, efforts to open a second hub at Philadelphia International proved unsuccessful. Mr. Hinson was later Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from 1993 to 1996, under President Bill Clinton.

In 1986, it assisted in setting up a highly successful regional affiliate, Midway Connection, as a feeder to the airport from smaller communities in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and Michigan. This regional carrier was established following the bankruptcy of Chicago Air, a regional carrier which attempted a similar, but independent feeder operation in 1986.

Due to the short runways at Midway Airport, the airline leased DC-9's, MD-82/83/87's, and Boeing 737's.

Midway Airlines never had a fatal aircraft accident in its 12 years of service, an unusual safety record among U.S. carriers.

Midway was noted for friendly employees and attentive service, and its Chicago South Side passengers were fiercely loyal to their hometown airline. Some of the signature inflight service items were after-dinner mints and "hot" hand towels, an item which had originally caught on with Midway's business clientele.

The airline purchased Eastern Air Lines' hub operation at Philadelphia International Airport in 1990. However, this expansion, coupled with the run-up of airline fuel prices during the Persian Gulf War in 1991, strained the company's financial resources, and it ceased operations and filed under Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws in November, 1991. The process of bankruptcy was completed in summer, 2005.

At the height of operations, the airline flew to the Western US cities of Los Angeles (LAX), John Wayne--Orange County(SNA), Las Vegas(LAS), Phoenix(PHX) and Denver(DEN); in the Midwest, Minneapolis(MSP), St. Louis(STL), Kansas City(MCI), Omaha(OMA), Des Moines(DSM), Chicago-Midway (MDW), Indianapolis(IND), Cincinnati(CVG), Cleveland(CLE), Columbus, OH(CMH), and Detroit(DTW); Dallas/Ft. Worth(DFW), New Orleans(MSY), Memphis(MEM) and Atlanta(ATL)in the South; Boston(BOS), Hartford(BDL), Pittsburgh(PIT), Philadelphia(PHL), New York-LaGuardia(LGA), and Washington D.C.-National(DCA) in the East; and nine cities in Florida: Tampa (TPE), St. Petersburg(PIE), Ft. Myers(RSW), Sarasota, Orlando(MCO), Jacksonville(JAX), West Palm Beach(PBI), Ft. Lauderdale(FLL), and Miami(MIA); and Nassau(NAS), St. Croix(STX) and St. Thomas(STT) in the Caribbean. It also served Toronto(YYZ) and Montreal(YUL) out of Philadelphia International.

Midway used the IATA airline designator ML.

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