Midway Airlines (JI)

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This article is about the second Midway Airlines. For the former carrier, see Midway Airlines (ML).

Midway Airlines

IATA JI	ICAO MDW	Callsign Midway
Founded		1993, ceased 2003
Hubs		Raleigh-Durham International Airport
Frequent flyer program		AAdvantage (through American Airlines)
Fleet size		33
Destinations		33
Headquarters		Raleigh, North Carolina
Key people		Robert R. Fergeson (CEO)
Website:

Midway Airlines was an airline based out of Morrisville, North Carolina, between 1993 and 2003. It was formed by Jet Express, a carrier that fed Trans World Airlines and USAir during the late 1980s and early 1990s. After an abortive attempt at New York-Chicago service, Midway moved to Morrisville, North Carolina and set up a hub at Raleigh-Durham International Airport. Midway's arrival at RDU coincided with the closure of an American Airlines hub there.

At the height of its operations, Midway offered almost 200 flights daily from RDU to 25 destinations on the East Coast, and was used by many passengers travelling between the Northeast and Southeast.

Midway used a variety of aircraft while hubbed at RDU. Initially the fleet consisted only of the Fokker F100. Midway added Airbus 320s to fly longer routes, but these routes were unprofitable and the 320s were soon disposed of. Midway then obtained a large number of CRJ-200s for expansion. As time passed the F100s became expensive to operate, so Midway replaced them with Boeing 737s (the 700 variant). Two regional carriers, first Great Lakes Aviation and later Corporate Airlines, also flew Beechcraft 1900 and Jetstream 31 aircraft respectively, providing service between smaller markets and RDU.

The high-tech slump of 2000-01 hurt Midway, and the carrier abruptly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on the evening of August 13, 2001. Thousands of employees were laid off immediately with no warning, and their access cards to the airport ramp were deactivated overnight. [1] Increasingly relying on the higher seating capacity of the 737-700s, Midway continued to fly during reorganization; but after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, Midway ceased operations on September 12. Following $12.5M in financial infusion from the US federal government, Midway resumed limited service to six destinations from RDU under its own livery on December 19, 2001. [2] [3]

After Midway's bankruptcy filing, almost all of its aircraft were sold except for six small regional jets. On July 17, 2002, Midway ceased operations under its own livery and reconfigured as a US Airways Express carrier, focusing on regional flights within North and South Carolina. It finally ceased operations on October 30, 2003 through a Chapter 7 bankruptcy when it was unable to acquire enough capital to stay afloat.

The second Midway used the IATA airline designator JI.