Midwest Airlines history

Beginning in 1948, it used its own aircraft to fly workers out to mills in difficult-to-reach locations.

The department expanded in 1969 to form K-C Aviation, which was created to carry out the maintenance for Kimberly-Clark’s corporate aircraft.

When the United States government enacted the Airline Deregulation Act in 1978, Kimberly-Clark chose to start regular commercial service, and was shortly thereafter named Midwest Express.

By 1982, Kimberly-Clark's transportation needs increased, as it was having to shuttle employees between its headquarters near Appleton, Wisconsin, and a forest products research center in Atlanta.

Midwest Express was serving the following destinations in October 1984:

On September 6, 1985, Midwest Express Flight 105 crashed shortly after takeoff from Milwaukee, bound for Atlanta.

In early September, 1986, a Douglas DC-9 flying as Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105 crashed shortly after takeoff from General Mitchell Airport, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing all 31 people on board.

When they began, Midwest's flights were only 20 percent full, but by 1988 its flights were about 66 percent full, and sales stood at around $54 million.

By 1989, it was the third largest carrier flying out of Milwaukee, and its direct flights took it to 15 cities.

By 1993, Midwest Express was only the 24th largest airline in the United States, with revenues of $165 million.

The new airline took off in July 1994 utilizing Boeing 737 jetliners.

In an article in Forbes from October 23, 1995, Hoeksema declared: "When you have an industry with dissatisfied customers, you have a business opportunity." In other words, as things got worse for the larger carriers, Midwest would still make money.

By 1998, Midwest's stock was one of the stars of the market. It was still possible for the carrier to have an unprofitable quarter, such as a bad period in May and June 1996, when unusual fogginess around Milwaukee caused the airline to cancel a record 750 flights.

ALPA won out after elections in December 1997, and the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) began organizing roughly a year later.

Negotiations for the first pilots' contract began in August 1998, and a federal mediator was called in the next March.

Brelis, Matthew, "Midwest Express's Frills Run Counter to Airline Industry Trend," Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News, July 8, 1999.

The mid-2000’s brought changes in the service offered by Midwest as each aircraft was now split between two cabins, The Signature Service and The Saver Service.

Midwest committed to a $1.15 billion fleet renewal program in April 2001.

In 2002, the airline made another major change, shortening its name from Midwest Express to simply Midwest.

The parent company Midwest Express Holdings, Inc., began 2004 with a new name as well: Midwest Air Group, Inc.

In May 2005, Midwest announced a new buy-on-board meal service for customers.

"MEH Profitable, Seeks 3rd Party to Do RJ Flying," Regional Aviation News, August 7, 2006.

On May 29, 2007, Midwest announced the next phase of the company's strategic plan, which offered customers the choice of Signature and Saver seating on all flights.

Midwest also began removing the Boeing 717’ from the fleet, reducing them to just nine aircraft in 2008.

In early 2010, Republic announced that they would be merging the Midwest and Frontier brands, with Frontier being the chosen brand moving forward.

In 2011, World Travel Awards, the travel industry awards program that has been described by the Wall Street Journal as the “Oscars of the Travel Industry”, named Frontier Airlines “North America’s Leading Low-Cost Airline”.

In 2012, Frontier Airlines introduced onboard Wi-Fi on the airline’s Embraer 190 fleet.

In July 2013, Frontier Airlines announced new nonstop seasonal service between Denver and Montego Bay, Jamaica, with weekly nonstop flights beginning on December 22, 2013.

On August 9, 2019 it was announced that Elite Airways signed an operating agreement to provide the initial aircraft, flight crews, and maintenance service for Midwest Express.