midwest airlines

[PaulRigdon]

So after today's news it looks like Air Tran is poised to take over. Am I overvaluing Midwest or is this a devistating blow to Milwaukee and feel like the county and city should step in and do something?

[pitchleague]

well, I'll be ticked if that means no more (relatively) cheap flights from Vegas to Milwaukee--my main means of flying home. Oh, and no cookies either, I'd guess. That would stink.

[bork]

Short term, it will probably mean more direct flights and probably cheaper fares. But I'm concerned about what happens long term when there's a slowdown. Milwaukee flights will probably get cut way back because it's not their main hub. They're not going to care about Milwaukee like a local company would.

 

But the biggest impact will be felt in areas not related to flights and airlines.

Milwaukee loses yet another good, local company. This has happened so many times in recent years. And Midwest was a great corporate citizen, supporting many local causes and businesses. How much will AirTran care about this? Look at what happened when US Bank took over Firstar. And finally, the AirTran Center? Yuck.

[chuckiehacks]

I'd rather have AirTran take over Midwest than someone else that already has a presence in the midwest. The only reason Midwest didn't lose money last year (as they have every other year for a long time) is because Northwest was in bankruptcy. Now that Northwest is emerging again, they'll put a lot of pressure on Midwest.

 

I think AirTran will value Milwaukee. It will be their 2nd hub (and most airlines have more than one). Their other one is in Atlanta, so there will be many more direct flights from Milwaukee, especially to places like Vegas.

 

So there won't be any cookies. That's not that big of a loss in my book. There's no way Midwest stays independant forever, AirTran is as good a match as they're going to find.

 

Not to mention the Midwest shareholders (including their executives) are getting a huge premium over what the share were worth prior to AirTran entering the picture.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

Are they going to make all Midwest planes AirTran planes? That is, are they going to destroy the Midwest brand and everything that comes with it? Or are they just going to take over the company and retain the Midwest brand and accomodations (good service, 2 leather seats, etc)?

[bork]

2 across leather seating will be gone. Actually, Midwest already had plans to scale it way back, even if they weren't taken over.

 

AirTran has said it would convert everything to its seating pattern. I think that is 2x3 seating, with a first class section. AirTran is known for it's very basic (bad?) service and low fares. They want Midwest for it's hub and flights, not it's service. The best care in the air will be no more.

[BraunsBoyfriend]

That's too bad then, but that's business. People like cheap. Value to a lot of people isn't the relationship between cost and quality unfortunatly. It's simly cost. This is why Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the country.

 

And people will seriously fly with another airline because it saves them $10.00/flight more, even thought the quality is far less.

 

It's too bad a truly good company that provided great service is going to be taken over by a company that doesn't care.

 

There going to learn a tough lesson about why Midwest was so successful. It has a lot to do with the level and quality of service they provided. It had a lot to do with the overall "value" of their product.

 

I fly Midwest almost exclusively because of the 2 across seating. I like a little more space and this is worth paying a little more money for in my opinion. In fact, I'd "rather" pay more money for this instead of a little less money to be on a cramped, smelly plane with low class people for 4 hours.

[pitchleague]

yeah, I agree. Midwest is the only airline that I trust. Every other airline has had a history (with me) of bumping or delaying flights (more than a half-hour, that is). Every other airline has been cramped, had rude passengers and flight attendants, and the pilots flew pretty bad (IMO).

 

For instance, every other airline in their landing pattern into Vegas flies thru this jet stream over the mountains that causes a very turbulent and "scary" landing. I've not once experienced that with Midwest--smooth as a baby's bottom when it comes to landing in Vegas. Don't know if they avoid the air pocket or what (it's the same runway as the other guys) but there are no worries.

 

Also, what will become of the puddle jumpers to Apple-ville (you know what town I mean), Green Bay, Wausau, etc.)? Those flights were great, too.

[Gormans Gofer]

I once had roast beef and jumbo shrimp, served on china with silverwear, on a Midwest flight to Denver. Plus, champagne and the cookies. Now THAT was what really differentiated Midwest from the rest of the pack. After 9/11, Midwest cut back, and - except for the 2 across seating - they weren't all that much different than the others.

 

I was ecstatic when they created a MKE - Orange County, CA (where I live) route. But it failed miserably, due to the 3 hour layover in KC. Ever spent any time in the KC airport? It might be the worst around (though it may have been renovated in the past 2 or 3 years, and if so, I apologize).

 

Regardless of what happens, it's sad to see yet another major company that Milwaukee can no longer claim as its own. To think of what's happened in that regard in the past 40 years, it's incredible.

[LouisEly]

2 across leather seating will be gone.

 

I think they had been going away from that for some time now. When I moved to LA three years ago I flew Midwest one-way from Madison to MKE to LAX because it was the cheapest ticket by $100; I saw why - the flight was half empty and I had a whole row to myself. I was flying in one of their new Boeing 717 aircraft (basically the same as the MD-80 from their takeover of McDonnell-Douglas). And I swear that the row that I had all to myself had three seats - I'm sure it was the 2/3 seating that is/was used on all MD-80s. Granted I was towards the back of the plane (four or five from the end, but I think that was on purpose so I could have the whole row to myself) and didn't notice the front of the plane, so maybe from the emergency exit row forward it was 2/2. But I'm sure it was 2/3.

 

Sad news. I was hoping it would be Jet Blue, because they have no presence in the midwest (Long Beach to Chicago O'Hare, but that's it). But the odds of that were very low because of incompatible fleet (Jet Blue uses Airbus 320s).

[YutakaEnatsu]

I'm speaking up here as a Midwest employee...

 

I don't think it's over yet. Midwest still has a majority on its board that is opposed to a takeover, and Wisconsin law allows them to drag this out a long time even if AirTran gets a majority of the stock. A lot of people think there might be a private investor or consortium out there who can make a better deal for Midwest than AirTran can, and Midwest can buy enough time to make that happen.

 

That said AirTran succeeding is the most likely outcome.

 

Most employees are against this - they've promised to keep jobs and they may even add entry-level jobs (think airplane cleaners, baggage handlers, $8/hour types) but almost all white-collar jobs will move to Orlando or disappear. (Mine is one of the many.)

 

For the community, air service would probably actually increase, at least for a while - AirTran desperately needs a new hub and MKE is it - they claim to have plans for massive expansion. If you ever wanted a nonstop flight from Milwaukee to Montreal, Manchester NH or Wichita, this will be the time to get it. (And the planes will be nearly empty, too.)

 

I don't think you need to worry about cheap flights to Vegas and Florida going away - every city in America has those and the demand will always be there.

 

One interesting thing is that Midwest has a strong record against competition, especially in MKE where we've driven away expansion attempts by Northwest (3 times), American, AirTran and others over the years. AirTran, on the other hand, has a horrible record - sometimes pulling out of a city before flying starts because someone else started to compete against them. So I bet, if they succeed, we'll see rapid expansion into MKE - Northwest will ramp up flight again, JetBlue will come in, maybe even Southwest will finally show up here.

 

In the end, MKE's airline is likely to be someone like JetBlue, at least partly because they're not AirTran (and they're only airline that holds a candle to Midwest in customer-service surveys- and you'd be able to watch Packer games on Sunday flights.)

 

I'm personally going to miss the suite at Miller Park if this happens. Plus, Midwest flies the Brewers everywhere they go; wonder if the team would stick with AirTran or look elsewhere for their charters.