Midwest Express Douglas DC-9
In 1969, the Kimberly-Clark paper mill company created K-C Aviation, which took over a small fleet of aircraft that flew executives from the company’s headquarters to its various mill locations. The deregulation of the US airline industry in 1978 opened up new opportunities to diversify, so in 1984, with the backing of the paper company, K-C Aviation started its own airline, Midwest Express, with two Douglas DC-9s. Besides its scheduled flights, Midwest Express would also offer charter services to executives and sports teams. An early ambitious program to link Chicago to Atlanta was abandoned for a slower growth business model, concentrating on the Midwest from its hub in Milwaukee.
With competition only coming from smaller commuter airlines and Midway Airlines, which was increasingly moving east, Midwest Express was able to quietly build an extensive route network. Midwest also took advantage of a growing number of business travelers by offering better legroom than other airlines, leather seats, inflight meals (at a time when most airlines were reducing or eliminating inflight meals), and in what would become an icon of the airline, fresh cookies. With the demise of Midway Airlines in 1991, Midwest Express became the best known of the smaller airlines in its namesake region. It became independent of Kimberly-Clark in 1995 and added all-inclusive vacation packages around the same time.
Midwest Express changed its name to simply Midwest Airlines in 2002, as a response to passengers equating the word “express” to commuter airlines owned by larger carriers such as United. It also embarked on a modernization program, mainly to save fuel costs: Midwest had taken heavy financial losses in the post-9/11 airline downturn, and needed to cut costs somewhere. The old DC-9 fleet was retired for a combination of Boeing 717s and Dornier 328JETs; the former was the last model of the DC-9 series, and in fact Midwest took charge of the last 717 built (and therefore the penultimate DC-9). Meals were discontinued, but the fresh cookies remained.
By 2006, Midwest had entered a codesharing agreement with Northwest, but, to fight off a takeover bid from AirTran, Northwest also gained a controlling interest in Midwest. Confusingly, Midwest’s aircraft were owned by Republic Airways Holdings. When Republic announced a reorganization that would cut nearly half of Midwest’s aircrews, the pilots threatened to strike. With Midwest becoming a drag on Republic’s financings, the company announced that Midwest would cease to exist in 2010, merged with Frontier Airlines, Republic’s main holding. The cookie that had so long been Midwest Express’ most popular feature, outlasted the airline, being marketed as the Midwest Brand.
N9102 was sold by Hughes Airwest in 1976 to Texas International, and eventually made its way to Midwest Express in 1988. It was retired sometime in the 1990s and scrapped.
Midwest Express Douglas DC-9
In 1969, the Kimberly-Clark paper mill company created K-C Aviation, which took over a small fleet of aircraft that flew executives from the company’s headquarters to its various mill locations. The deregulation of the US airline industry in 1978 opened up new opportunities to diversify, so in 1984, with the backing of the paper company, K-C Aviation started its own airline, Midwest Express, with two Douglas DC-9s. Besides its scheduled flights, Midwest Express would also offer charter services to executives and sports teams. An early ambitious program to link Chicago to Atlanta was abandoned for a slower growth business model, concentrating on the Midwest from its hub in Milwaukee.
With competition only coming from smaller commuter airlines and Midway Airlines, which was increasingly moving east, Midwest Express was able to quietly build an extensive route network. Midwest also took advantage of a growing number of business travelers by offering better legroom than other airlines, leather seats, inflight meals (at a time when most airlines were reducing or eliminating inflight meals), and in what would become an icon of the airline, fresh cookies. With the demise of Midway Airlines in 1991, Midwest Express became the best known of the smaller airlines in its namesake region. It became independent of Kimberly-Clark in 1995 and added all-inclusive vacation packages around the same time.
Midwest Express changed its name to simply Midwest Airlines in 2002, as a response to passengers equating the word “express” to commuter airlines owned by larger carriers such as United. It also embarked on a modernization program, mainly to save fuel costs: Midwest had taken heavy financial losses in the post-9/11 airline downturn, and needed to cut costs somewhere. The old DC-9 fleet was retired for a combination of Boeing 717s and Dornier 328JETs; the former was the last model of the DC-9 series, and in fact Midwest took charge of the last 717 built (and therefore the penultimate DC-9). Meals were discontinued, but the fresh cookies remained.
By 2006, Midwest had entered a codesharing agreement with Northwest, but, to fight off a takeover bid from AirTran, Northwest also gained a controlling interest in Midwest. Confusingly, Midwest’s aircraft were owned by Republic Airways Holdings. When Republic announced a reorganization that would cut nearly half of Midwest’s aircrews, the pilots threatened to strike. With Midwest becoming a drag on Republic’s financings, the company announced that Midwest would cease to exist in 2010, merged with Frontier Airlines, Republic’s main holding. The cookie that had so long been Midwest Express’ most popular feature, outlasted the airline, being marketed as the Midwest Brand.
N9102 was sold by Hughes Airwest in 1976 to Texas International, and eventually made its way to Midwest Express in 1988. It was retired sometime in the 1990s and scrapped.