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:''This article is about the regional airline that was based in Wichita, KS. For the article regarding the renamed Midwest Express, see Midwest Airlines.'' Air Midwest, Inc., was a Federal Aviation Administration Part 121 certificated air carrier that operated under air carrier certificate number AMWA510A issued on May 15, 1965. It was headquartered in Wichita, Kansas,〔"(uipl_3002c2a3.html )." United States Department of Labor. Retrieved on May 26, 2009.〕 United States, and was a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group. It operated flights as US Airways Express, including a code share with Midwest Airlines, and as Mesa Airlines. It served 28 cities in 12 states. Air Midwest was shut down by its parent company, Mesa Airlines, in June 2008. ==History== Air Midwest was founded in Wichita, Kansas, in May 1965 by Gary Adamson as Aviation Services, Inc. Using a single Cessna 206, Adamson transported human remains for area mortuaries. Later, Aviation Services held out for charter and in 1967 began scheduled service flying between Wichita and Salina.〔Book: "Pioneer of the Third Level" by I.E. Quastler〕 As Frontier Airlines withdrew from the western Kansas market in 1968, Aviation Services moved in to assume air service. In 1969, it changed its name to Air Midwest and ordered Beech 99 aircraft to keep up with its expansion. By 1978, it was operating a fleet of 6 Metroliners linking smaller cities throughout Kansas to Wichita, Kansas City, MO, and Denver, CO. With airline deregulation in late 1978 Air Midwest saw many expansion opportunities and made a bold move by ordering 10 more metroliners. On March 1, 1979, Air Midwest began operating several new routes in New Mexico formerly flown by Texas International Airlines. This new service to New Mexico was connected to the Kansas operations by serving Lubbock, Texas where Air Midwest partnered with Braniff Airlines. From Lubbock, service was started to Hobbs, Roswell, Carlsbad, and Albuquerque, New Mexico as well as from Albuquerque to Clovis, NM. Service was also started from Lubbock, to Garden City, Dodge City, and Wichita, Kansas. In July 1979, service was inaugurated from Lubbock and Wichita, to Ponca City, Enid, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1980/1981 Air Midwest again expanded with new routes from Albuquerque to Alamogordo, Silver City, and Farmington, New Mexico formerly flown by Frontier Airlines. A new link to Wichita was also created via Clovis and Amarillo. Routes were also expanded from both the Kansas City International airport and the Kansas City Downtown airport to new cities in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. In 1982 all Lubbock service was discontinued and transferred to Midland/Odessa, Texas. Beginning in 1984, competitor Mesa Airlines began aggressive expansion throughout New Mexico and Texas and Air Midwest made the decision to discontinue all routes in this area by early 1986. They then shifted their focus to building newly acquired code share relationships with major airlines listed below.〔Air Midwest timetables〕 In 1985, Air Midwest merged with Scheduled Skyways, a Fayetteville, Arkansas-based air carrier, in hopes of gaining a codeshare to feed Republic Airlines' Memphis hub. Air Midwest would expand by acquiring routes in Arkansas to complement its existing routes in the midwest. Both carriers operated Metros, and Air Midwest had an opportunity to win a codeshare with Republic. Republic picked a different air carrier to feed its Memphis hub. Air Midwest discovered many hidden problems with the neglected fleet inherited from Scheduled Skyways, forcing the airline to perform a great deal of maintenance to keep the aircraft flying. The merger with Scheduled Skyways pushed Air Midwest to the verge of bankruptcy over the few years that followed. On April 1, 1985, Air Midwest introduced the 30-seat Saab 340 aircraft with flights from Kansas City to Wichita, Omaha, and Manhattan, KS. By the end of 1985 the airline was operating 5 Saab 340's and 24 Metroliners. Although Air Midwest was unsuccessful in gaining a codeshare with Republic through the Scheduled Skyways merger, it was able to acquire codeshare agreements in 1985 with Eastern Airlines as Eastern Air Midwest Express at the Kansas City and Wichita hubs and later with Ozark Air Lines as Ozark Midwest at that carriers' St. Louis hub, and American Airlines as part of the American Eagle (airline brand) at there Nashville hub. Continuing money problems forced Air Midwest to sell its Nashville hub and Saab 340 aircraft to American in 1987. TWA acquired Ozark in 1986 and forced Air Midwest to surrender some of its St Louis routes because TWA already had a code share partner in St Louis, Resort Air (today's Trans States Airlines). By June 1988, Air Midwest had built up the Kansas City hub with 89 flights per day to 20 cities. Eastern then abruptly pulled out of Kansas City leaving Air Midwest no one to feed. Air Midwest quickly negotiated a codeshare agreement with the second incarnation of Braniff (1983-1990) as Braniff was now building up Kansas City as a hub. However this happened just in time for Braniff to go bankrupt again. After the collapse of Braniff in 1990, Air Midwest negotiated yet another new codeshare agreement, this time with USAir to feed the Kansas City hub. On July 12, 1991, Air Midwest published a message to all employees, "St. Louis hub sold to TransStates, all else to Mesa." A book on the history of Air Midwest entitled "Pioneer of the Third Level" was written by Dr. Imre E. Quastler, an authority on regional airlines. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Air Midwest」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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