Midway Airlines

airlineguy · Fri Mar 30, 2001 1:29 am

Can anyone give me any info about Midway Airlines?

Is the current Midway the same airline from the past or is it an all new start up?

Any info would be great.
Thanks in advance

Guest · Fri Mar 30, 2001 2:03 am

I can't tell you if its a new start up or not, but I can tell you that it is rated as one of the best airline. It rated #1 on a poll I saw of over 90 airlines. Just this morning on the news, they were talking about the top airlines, and Midway is still number #1 according to polls on customer satisfaction.

travatl · Fri Mar 30, 2001 2:56 am

Climbout -

I was wondering what poll you saw rated Midway as the #1 carrier as far as customer satisfaction? I've heard many good and bad things about Midway.

I know they've recently taken a lot of steps in increasing customer satisfaction, however I would be VERY surprised to learn that they are ahead of Midwest Express, Southwest, or even Continental in that category. I checked epinons.com, and they are currently ranked #11 out of the 27 US Airlines listed which placed them ahead of United, American, and Delta.

They do have some pluses obviously including hubbing at an uncongested airport (RDU), committed to operating a young, advanced fleet (CRJs, F100s, and B737-700s), and they're one of the few startup/low fare carriers to offer a premium cabin (Carolina Class).

I've also heard a lot recently, throughout the biz, that their future is financially uncertain (anybody else shed any light on this?). Don't get me wrong, I hope they make it, they seem like a great little airline, but while their customer satisfaction may be higher than that of the big three, I hardly think they are the best in the industry.

Travis

wolfpacker · Fri Mar 30, 2001 3:05 am

I think it is a new startup. They did have alot of the old Midway Airlines employees when they started service in Chicago. They moved to RDU in 1995 after AA pulled out. At the time of the move there were quite a few former AA executives at the helm. The company is now publicly owned, although over 50% is owned by local RDU billionaires.

Hope that helps.

Guest · Fri Mar 30, 2001 3:48 am

Midway is one of the best airlines around. Our local NBC channel here in the RDU area said that Midway was voted #3 airline nationwide for costumer service and #4 for food quality during a recent poll. They operate one of the youngest all jet fleet in the world (their a/c are less than 3 years old on average). Their service is not as good as say Midwest Express for sure but is certainly much better than what is proposed on most US majors. They have leather seats, gourmet coffee, hot towels,mints and more in eco class (Carolina Class). They started flying to the west coast from RDU last year and started service to Denver last month. They currently operate 9 737-700s, 6 fokker 100s (2 will be retired soon) and 24 CRJs. 2 more CRJs should be delivered soon and about 10 new 737s should join the fleet within the next year. Lately this huge increase of capacity sparked concerns especially because competition increased on the east coast in the last year and ,with the not so good economy, people and companies tend to reduce their travel. If you add to that the high fuel prices and the cost of training for the new 737 crews, some people think that Midway tried to add too much capacity too fast and that its future could be jeopardized. They already did the same mistake when they came to RDU and started operating A320s they could not fill... But I sure hope that they'll make it because they are THE airline of the research triangle and they have everyone here behind them.

For more info on them go to their web site at
www.midwayair.com

mls737

Matt D · Fri Mar 30, 2001 4:02 am

The current Midway Airlines (based at RDU) commenced operations in Fall of 1993. They have no corporate connection with the original Midway at all other than the name, although the current Midway did originally have it's home at MDW, just as it's prior nameske did, and many of their employees came from the original.

Ryefly · Fri Mar 30, 2001 6:41 am

Midway is a fabulious airline. I highly recommend them to everyone who has not yet tried them. Everytime I call their reservations line I get the most friendly person on the other end. Their fleet is excellent and very comfortable inside with all leather seating. Service is well above the majors and once again very friendly every time I fly them. Their ontime performance is good. I think only one flight I have been on was late getting in because we were coming from LGA which everyone is late getting in and out of these days. With Southwest, Metro Jet, and Air Tran all knocking at their back door, Midway has been able to keep growing steadly and with big profits. Metro Jet gave up and no longer serves RDU. Right now the ball is in Midway's court because Southwest is being held back with only two gates. There is just not enough room for them to expand further yet. They may get one more gate next year but so far Midway has plenty of room to grow.

About the #1 rating. Most polls give Midwes Express and Jet Blue top honors. However Midway is always in the top 5. They did get awarded #1 recently by Planetfeedback.com Here is the article to prove it.
http://www.midwayair.com/news/010209.html

Pilot1113 · Sat Mar 31, 2001 12:21 pm

I flew them once to BOS in December. I really like their service. Now that they fly to PVD, I shall be taking them more often in the future.

I definately give them the thumbs up! Their cabin crew was very nice, their gate crew was very nice, and they did everything they could to get us to our destination when our flight was cancelled.

Fly Midway Airlines! Big thumbs up

- Neil Harrison

TonyBurr · Sat Mar 31, 2001 12:35 pm

They are a new airline, not a spin off of the old Chicago Midway. I have taken them occasionally from PHL to Florida, and have NEVER been disappointed. I have always found theri staff very pleasent and helpful (Can not say that about UA even thought I am 1K). I would not hesitate to take Midway.

Guest · Sat Mar 31, 2001 1:17 pm

The finicial question is really bugging me... I was thrilled to find out that the started service from RDU to SJC non stop cause it means I can get to my friends in Chapel Hill without connecting in say ORD, DFW, or IAD... However I was really disappointed when I heard that the load factor on the flight is 41%!!! How can an airline operate such a route profitably?

Guest · Sun Apr 01, 2001 5:58 am

That's a little disturbing, and weird. There's not even any competetion on that route. Maybe Midway didn't market it well enough? Especially with amount of money/pax they spend on their flights, 40% full on their 73Gs over time will run that route into the ground.

Guest · Tue Apr 03, 2001 4:41 am

Travatl

It was a poll done by dejanews early last year (www.deja.com). They've had just about every poll you can think of. They did one on the airlines. They rated over 90 airlines on service, food, on time performance, ect...They even had a space where people wrote comments. Midway stayed #1 for months. Every so often it would fall to number 2 or 3, but for the most part, it recieved raved rewiews. Apparently, this airline serves fresh, warm chocolate chip cookies on thier flights. I've never flown them, but many of the comments people wrote, mentioned the cookies. Continental made it to number #2. Delta, American, United, and Northwest were all near the bottom. Most of the airlines in the top ten were Asian and European Airlines.

wolfpacker · Tue Apr 03, 2001 5:13 am

http://triangle.bcentral.com/triangle/stories/2001/04/02/story7.html

Here is some info on the RDUSJC flight and its load factor.

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