YEY! Just heard on the news that Midway has plans to start flying again in 4 days, with only 1 jet (showed a CRJ on TV). Their website hasn't been updated since OCT 08. Will the hub still be RDU?

Have any routes been announced yet?

Regards.

No clue on the routes, but I would guess FLA will be in there somewhere.

ONE PLANE? why bother. AA is beefing up Eagle to the Northeast and WN is going into FLA. they're just farting in the wind on this one

Then they should do it in Greensboro instead  

Cheers!

I read the article in the Raleigh News and Observer.

Apparently, they are going to start scheduled service again on Friday or Saturday utilizing 1 737. The article said they were negotiating gates at other airports (plural) and that the will start without the government bailout and are currently calling some old employees back.

BLAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!. NOT MIDWAY Again. ARRGH, I do not think they will succeed at all, will probably go out of business 3 days after operations. Besides, What DUMB Pilots would want to fly with them when he could go to jetBlue, Delta, Continental, or Northwest? Where he is sure to have a future. HELLO--I mean BYE BYE MIDWAY.

Welcome back Midway and I wish you the best luck.
Chepos

It went bankrupt the first time, it went bankrupt the second time, and third time is not lucky - ask any World War 1 vet.

Come on, guys, one plane? Let the dead dog rest in peace.

ATA has been asked by Midway to "bid" on handling their check-in.

Dead dog?

ARE YOU ON DRUGS???

Midway has tremendous prospects in this brave new world of ours. I have a feeling this carier is going to do tremendously well.

Article that ran today locally said that Midway will definately restart by Monday and will rework their focus. It said they will no longer be focused on the busniess travelor but on the leisure travelor. Also restated that they were going to have 1 737 for now.

Uhm, doesn't Southwest and Airtran already do this out of RDU?

But the article did state some thing like "You will not see any of the same destinations that you saw before, and you may see connections from others into RDU". This kind of tells me that perhaps Midway will start corporate airlines back up and perhaps not only feed people into RDU but perhaps allow connections with American airlines and all their American Eagle flights.

Who knows, if they do try this, let's hope they don't go the route of Eastwind.

Cheers

Hey JetBlue, let me ask you this. Why do you think those former Midway pilots could even get flying jobs at JetBlue, Southwest, Continental etc? Hello ?? Can you say Sept. 11th? All the airlines are laying off pilots, not hiring, with the exception of probably JetBlue and Southwest. Any of the other airlines you mentioned in your post are laying off pilots, so where could they find a job, other than going back to Midway, unless they were hired on by JetBlue or Southwest............better to fly for 3 days and get paid, than not fly at all and not get paid............I don't think Midway will make it the 3rd time either, but you need to think longer about why the pilots would go back to work at Midway Number 3............

Jay

I know about 15-20 got hired at PACE airlines.

It never ceases to amaze me how stupid airline management can be. Coming back is a HUGE mistake. Consider:

-- We're in a recession
-- The RDU area has a slower economy
-- AA Eagle has moved in
-- Not as many people are flying anymore
-- WN presence
-- To start in the winter? The worst quarter for loads?

Let the sleeping dog lie.

Not only is Midway version 3 a mistake, but it's crazy to think that we (the American taxpayers) are about to fork over some of the airline bailout money to a group which had no idea how to run an airline.

We're rewarding incompetence, with the bailout of Midway, not to mention United, US Airways, America West, whose management all ride the short bus to work...

Here is the latest article from the Raleigh News and Observer
-----------------------------------
Midway gets lift from bailout

By DUDLEY PRICE, Staff Writer

MORRISVILLE - Midway Airlines will return to the sky by Christmas, courtesy of a grant of about $12.5 million from the federal airline bailout package.

Midway, formerly the Triangle's busiest carrier but
grounded since it shut down Sept. 12, was notified
Friday morning that it would get the money.

The company, which declared bankruptcy in August,
now plans to resume service at Raleigh-Durham International Airport with about 25 daily flights to about a half dozen destinations on the East Coast, said Robert Ferguson, the president and chief executive officer. Flights should resume shortly before Christmas, he said.

"It means we're going to fly airplanes again, and we'll be doing that hopefully sooner than later," Ferguson said. "We're reasonably thrilled."

News about the bailout was met with applause from some of the 75 Midway employees still working at
company headquarters in Morrisville. Midway plans to hire another 75 workers before it resumes flying, Ferguson said.

The federal bailout money tosses the bankrupt carrier a lifeline at a time when it faced potential liquidation in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

But numbers of airline passengers have declined nationally since the terrorist attacks Sept. 11 and amid a severe economic slowdown. Some aviation experts doubted Midway's comeback will be a success.

"I rank this right up there with the $600 hammer," said Mike Boyd, president of The Boyd Group, an aviation consulting firm in Evergreen, Colo. "I can see this [comeback] happening along with the Easter Bunny coming on Dec. 25."

Midway will get 85 percent of the money now and the rest by the first quarter of 2002. The grant must be used to resume flights and cannot go to creditors.

Still, the resumption of service will be good news to many Triangle passengers who liked Midway's customer service.

Ferguson said that he wanted to begin flights "by Christmas or a little before" and declined to name destinations. But in the past, Ferguson has said destinations could include Philadelphia; Boston; New York City; Tampa, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Fla.; Washington, D.C., and Newark, N.J.

Reps. Bob Etheridge, a Democrat from Lillington, and David Price, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, said Friday that they expect Midway back in the air by Dec. 19.

A schedule will be announced when Midway is ready to sell tickets, Ferguson said. Midway plans to use up to four leased Boeing 737s initially and possibly add another two jetliners by March, Ferguson said.

By the time the flights begin, ramp workers, flight attendants and pilots will be hired, bringing Midway's employment to about 150 people. Ferguson said a handful of workers might be hired as soon as next week. Midway expects to have slightly more than 400 employees by next March, according to documents filed this week in bankruptcy court.

The recast Midway will be a fraction of its former size. Before Midway filed for Chapter 11 protection on Aug. 13, it had about 2,700 employees, 40 jetliners and 130 daily departures from RDU to 28 destinations.

Midway grounded 43 percent of its planes and laid off 700 workers after filing for bankruptcy but continued flying an abbreviated schedule until the terrorist attacks caused it to cease operations and lay off 1,700 employees. The rest have been laid off in the intervening two months.

Since then, Midway has been waiting to see whether it qualified for bailout money to get back in the air. A Connecticut venture capital company had loaned Midway $8.5 million, but the carrier needed additional money to resume operations.

The approval Friday followed intense lobbying by the state's congressional delegation. Fergusonsaid in September that he hoped to get up to $40 million in bailout grants and loan guarantees. The $15 billion program provides $5 billion in grants for airlines and $10 billion in guaranteed loans.

Besides grants, Ferguson hoped to get $28 million in loan guarantees. But Ferguson said Friday that he no longer planned to seek loan guarantees because it would take months to have the applications processed.

Ferguson declined to say how long $12.5 million might last Midway, which must now begin a marketing program for its revamped schedule and line up travel agencies to sell tickets.

He also declined to say how much cash the airline has in hand. When it filed for bankruptcy, Midway listed $318 million in assets and $232 million in liabilities. The airline had seen losses in four of its last five quarters because of higher fuel prices, increasing competition and a decline in business travel.

Morten Beyer, chairman of Morten Beyer and Agnew, an aviation consulting firm in Alexandria, Va., estimated the $12 million grant would last several months.

He said that each airliner needs to generate about $2 million in revenue per month "to stay alive" and that the local market will determine whether Midway succeeds.

"If they got the money, I guess they can do that [resume flights], but how long they can do it remains to be seen," Beyer said. "The key is attracting passengers in the current climate. They can't afford to advertise in New York or the other markets, so they're really depending on the local market.

Staff writer Dudley Price can be reached at 829-4525 or [email protected]
----------------------------------------

I really hope they do great, because they were a great airline to fly on, although this is an up hill battle. I wish them luck regardless.

Why did the pick RALEIGH? And why try the same formula that failed them before?

TWAMERICAN:

No, not on drugs, and I'm happy you have good feelings. I'm sure the CEO is also happy that, having pulled some political strings to get the money, he's still got a job. A lot of ex-Midway employees haven't.

Howsumever, all those who invested in MDWY will not be so pleased.

When the airline went bankrupt it wiped out all shareholder value - meaning the shares are now worthless. Those shareholders put their faith in management's promises and watched their money disappear before their eyes as the CEO made one bad decision after another.

Now here is that same CEO making more promises - despite the most unfavorable conditions for an airline that have existed in many, many years.

And we, the taxpayer, foot the bill.

Mariner,

I'm sorry about that post, It was after a long night of partying.  

rgds
TWAmerican

TWAmerican:

No problems, no hard feelings. We're all sad when any airline goes under, and optimistic when they fly.

However, in the case of Midway, I just don't get it.

Cheers

mariner

Will the fleet be only 737s, or will they gradually bring the F100s and/or CRJs back, or is it too early to tell?

DeltaRules

I still think if they want to survive they need to focus on GSO and CLT also, noth have few to none budget airlines feeding.

With Southwest, American Eagle, and Airtran in RDU, its going to be short lived, since it looks as though Midway is going to directly compete with all three now.

Yeah, but the folks in the Triangle Area who flew JI so much and generated all the revenue for the airline (how management blew it all is another story) will probably come back and support it. JI is a niche airline, and it did so well because there was no one else like it in the Southeast. I would hope everyone in NC would be loyal to the hometown airline and go back and fly them.

I will state this:
Midway never advertised in the Triad, no one flew them from here because no one knew they existed.

Ok, before XMas they will be back, with 6 737-700's....they got just over $10 million from the government...how many days will that last them??

This is just stupid. I like Midway Airlines and all, but this idea stinks. And to think the government is going to foot the bill (or should I say my tax money is) is just pathetic. I'm just going to count the days before they go under again.