Midwest Airlines

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Midwest Airlines
IATA YX	ICAO MEP	Callsign MIDEX
Founded		1984
Hubs		General Mitchell International Airport
Focus cities / secondary hubs		Kansas City International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Midwest Miles
Member lounge		Best Care Club
Fleet size		35
Destinations		23
Parent company		Midwest Air Group
Headquarters		Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Key people		Timothy E. Hoeksama, Chairman/President/CEO
Website: http://www.midwestairlines.com

Midwest Airlines Boeing 717 taxiing for departure at John Wayne Airport (Santa Ana, California, USA) in February 2004

For the Egypt/Egyptian airline see: Midwest Airlines

Midwest Airlines is an American scheduled passenger airline based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, operating from General Mitchell International Airport. Midwest Airlines is largely known for its Signature Service all business class seating arrangement, which includes leather seats arranged 2-by-2 and fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies. This product is available on Boeing 717 aircraft.

Midwest Connect (formerly Skyway Airlines) is a sister airline also owned by Midwest Air Group.

[edit] History

Midwest Airlines began life in 1948, when Kimberly-Clark Corporation began providing air transportation for company executives and engineers between the company's Appleton headquarters and their mills.

In 1969, K-C Aviation was born from this, and was dedicated to the maintenance of corporate aircraft. After the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, Kimberly-Clark and K-C Aviation decided to form a regular scheduled passenger airline, and out of that initiative, Midwest Express was started in 1984.

The airline slowly grew by adding Douglas DC-9 aircraft to its fleet. Eventually, Midwest Express served most major Midwestern and Eastern destinations. Their longtime slogan, The Best Care in the Air, represents their inflight product. For many years, all flights featured 2-by-2 leather seating, ample legroom, and inflight meals and 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 the 1990s, Midwest Express began adding McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft to their fleet. The airline experienced steady growth along with continued profitablility. Midwest Express also started their own regional subsidiary, Skyway Airlines, The Midwest Express Connection, to provide commuter airline service to small communities in Wisconsin and the surrounding region. Kimberley-Clark relinquished its ownership in two initial public offerings on 22 September 1995 and 8 May 1996 ^[1].

After fourteen years of profit-making, Midwest Express was affected with serious financial problems after the September 11 Terrorist Attacks. To return to profitability, the airline made major changes to its product. First, they reconfigured some MD-80 series aircraft into a new 'Saver Service', featuring cloth coach seats in a 2-by-3 arrangement. Saver Service, while decreasing the width of the seats, continues to feature ample legroom. This service is offered from their 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 the financial difficulties. The signature gourmet meal services, which had been served on china after being cooked onboard, were discontinued in 2002.

In 2003, the airline made another major change, shortening its name from Midwest Express to simply Midwest. 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. It was also announced that select MD-80 aircraft would leave the fleet.

In May 2005, Midwest announced a new buy on board meal service for customers. The new program is a step up from 'In-flight Cafe' and features chefs and inspiration from the renowned Mader's restaurant. They also bake chocolate chip cookies on the plane and serve them warm.

Midwest has become the longstanding largest operation at Mitchell Airport and serves 21 cities non-stop (serving San Antonio only through Kansas City), while their regional partner Skyway Airlines, operating as Midwest Connect, serves nearly 30 destinations throughout the Central United States. Since the late 1990s, Midwest has built a focus city at Kansas City International Airport, where they presently operate nonstop service to twelve cities across the country.

[edit] Incidents and accidents

• On 6 September 1985, Midwest Express Flight 105 crashed upon takeoff from Milwaukee. This is Midwest's first (and, as of 2006, only) fatal accident, when a Douglas DC-9 of the airline crashed while taking off from Milwaukee, bound for Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport. According to FAA reports, the crash was caused by failure of the plane's right engine, due to engine fatigue. The engine failure caused the plane to stall during take off. The 31 people on board died.

• On 8 April 2005, a Midwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-88 take-off at Los Angeles International Airport was aborted because of a sudden contained engine failure.

• On 20 December 2005, Midwest Airlines Flight 210, a Boeing 717, experienced an issue with its landing gear while taking off from Logan International Airport. The aircraft, originally bound for Milwaukee, circled the airport for about two hours to burn off its surplus fuel. Ultimately, the aircraft returned to Boston Logan Airport and landed safely with only a few sparks trailing from the right main landing gear.

• In October, 2006, a Midwest Airlines McDonnell Douglas MD-81 flying as Flight 9 to La Guardia turned around shortly after takeoff from General Mitchell International Airport due to dropping cabin pressure. The plane landed safely and all passengers were transferred to another plane and continued on their fight.

[edit] Fleet

As of August 2006 the Midwest Airlines fleet includes ^[2] :

[edit] Affinity programs

Midwest Airlines' frequent flyer program is called Midwest Miles. They maintain one airport lounge, the Best Care Club at their Milwaukee hub.

While Midwest is not a member of any airline alliance, Midwest Miles may be redeemed in Northwest Airlines' WorldPerks program, and vice versa. As of 2006, Northwest route maps show Midwest as a partner airline.

[edit] Awards

• Rated the best domestic airline by Travel + Leisure seven times. [1]

[edit] Trivia

When receiving the new Boeing 717 aircraft, they introduced a new livery, which incorporates 4 gold rings on the left engine, and 3 on the right. This is to show the significance of the Captain (with four stripes) sitting on the left, and the First Officer (with three stripes) sitting on the right. All planes in the new livery have this, except for the first 717 delivered (N902ME) due to confusion by Boeing during painting

Only one MD-80 aircraft was ever painted in the new livery, ship N813ME. All were intended to be repainted, but after painting the first one, it was decided that they would be sold.

[edit] Destinations

[edit] United States

• Arizona
  • Phoenix (Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport)
• California
  • Los Angeles (Los Angeles International Airport)
  • San Diego (San Diego International Airport)
  • San Francisco (San Francisco International Airport)
• Colorado
  • Denver (Denver International Airport)
• Florida
  • Ft. Lauderdale (Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport)
  • Ft. Myers (Southwest Florida International Airport)
  • Orlando (Orlando International Airport)
  • Tampa (Tampa International Airport)
• Georgia
  • Atlanta (Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport)
• Massachusetts
  • Boston (Logan International Airport)
• Minnesota
  • Minneapolis/St. Paul (Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport)
• Missouri
  • Kansas City (Kansas City International Airport) Focus City
• Nebraska
  • Omaha (Eppley Airfield)
• Nevada
  • Las Vegas (McCarran International Airport)
• New Jersey
  • Newark (Newark Liberty International Airport)
• New York
  • New York (LaGuardia Airport)
• Pennsylvania
  • Philadelphia (Philadelphia International Airport)
• Texas
  • Dallas/Ft. Worth (Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport)
  • San Antonio (San Antonio International Airport)
• Virginia
  • Washington, DC suburbs (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport)
• Wisconsin
  • Milwaukee (General Mitchell International Airport) Hub

[edit] External links

• Midwest Airlines homepage
• Midwest Airlines Fleet Age
• Flyertalk

[edit] References

1. ^ Flight International 12-18 April 2005
2. ^ Flight International, 3-9 October 2006