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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. ==History== 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. In June 1989, Midway Airlines agreed to purchase a hub operation at Philadelphia International Airport for $100 million along with $100 million worth of DC-9 jets from the bankrupt Eastern Air Lines. The company began hub operations in Philadelphia in November 1989. However, less than a year later, competition with the US Airways Philadelphia hub, coupled with rising jet fuel prices following the August 1990 Invasion of Kuwait, caused the company to quit its Philadelphia hub. In October 1990 it sold its Philadelphia assets to USAir for $67.5 million. Citing the high price of jet fuel during the Gulf War and a drop in passengers in the recession that followed, the airline filed Chapter 11 in March 1991. In reorganization, Midway attempted to sell itself to Northwest Airlines. When Northwest pulled out of negotiations on November 12, 1991, Midway ceased operations the next day and its bankruptcy was re-filed as a liquidation under Chapter 7 bankruptcy laws. 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「Midway Airlines (1976–1991)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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