Midway Airlines was a United States airline
founded on October 13, 1976, by investor Irving
T. Tague. Although it received its operating
certificate from the Civil Aeronautics Board
(CAB) prior to the passage of the Airline
Deregulation Act in 1978, it is widely
recognized as the first post deregulation start
up.
The airline commenced operations in 1979.The
airline was intended to breathe new life into
Chicago Midway International Airport, then
called Chicago 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 billed as 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-9s from TWA and began flying
to Cleveland (Lakefront), Kansas City, and
Detroit. The scheduled service was an instant
success. In 1980 Midway bought five more DC-9s
and added flights to St Louis, New York La
Guardia and Washington National; they also
shifted to CLE, and tried MSP and quickly
dropped it. has several Midway route maps from
1980 to 1989.
During the 1980s the airline adopted 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 into the Caribbean via the
purchase in 1984 of the assets of Air Florida,
which had gone into bankruptcy. It proved to be
good mix of business and vacation travel
revenue. Midway flourished under the leadership
of David R. Hinson (CEO 1985 to 1991), but a
second hub at Philadelphia International in 1990
proved unsuccessful.
In
1986 the company assisted in setting up a successful
regional affiliate, Midway Connection, as a feeder from
small communities in Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, and
Michigan. This carrier was established following the
bankruptcy of Chicago Air, a regional carrier which
attempted a similar, but independent feeder operation in
1986.
On a June 1988 weekday Midway scheduled 116 nonstop
flights into MDW from 25 airports, along with 75 Midway
Connection nonstops from 17 other airports. They flew
MDW-MIA-STX-STT and back and MDW-FLL-NAS and back; aside
from those all Midway flights were nonstop to/from MDW.
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 chocolate wafer mints
and hot hand towels to the entire cabin, both of
which had originally caught on with Midway's
business clientele.The
airline purchased the hub operation of Eastern
Air Lines at Philadelphia International Airport
in 1990.
However, this expansion, in direct competition
with the Philadelphia hub of US Airways, coupled
with the run-up of airline fuel prices during
the Persian Gulf War in 1991, strained the
company's financial resources. The airline filed
Chapter 11 and attempted to reach agreement with
Northwest Airlines for a sale. Midway ceased
operations and filed under Chapter 7 bankruptcy
laws in November 1991. Settlement was completed
in summer, 2005.
(For the latest news please
checkout our home page)
