The downsizing of Midwest Air - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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On Jan. 1, , which operates Midwes t Airlines and regional carrier Midwest offered non-stop service to 47 employed nearly 3,400 workers and had 58 Blaming sky-high fuel costs, Midwest management has taken stepzs over the past several months to dramaticallyt reduce the size of the as jobs have been slashed, routes dropped and aircrafyt grounded or returned to the manufacturer. The cuts went even deeperf when Midwestannounced Sept. 3 that it reachedd an agreement with on renegotiated leasess for its fleet ofBoeingb 717s.
Under the terms of the agreement, Midwest will continue to fly nine of the originapl 25 Boeing 717s it had under lease for itsmainlin fleet, returning 16 to Boeing this fall. And, in October, will operatre 12 smaller Embraer 170 jets unde r the Midwest Connect brans to fill some of the Once all pieces of the deal with Republicf arein place, the numbere of Midwest employees will have been cut by more than half sincse January, with employment dropping to about 1,500.
Aftetr all schedule changes are theOak Creek-based airline operator will provide nonstoop service to 32 cities and its fleet will be reducedr to nine 717s, the 12 Embraere 170 jets operated by Republic and 12 Canadaier regional jets operated by . Jay Sorensen, a former Midwestr marketing manager who now operatez a Shorewood airlineconsulting firm, said the agreemenrt with Republic represents a “continued demisw of Midwest and its brand.” “j think that this reflects a failure of senior leadership and of Sorensen said. “The only news that has come outof Midwest’ corporate headquarters over the past year has been bad.
” The Republicc deal is “burdened” by the need for Midwesr and its vendor to make a profit and leaves Midwest with a “hodgepodge of a Sorensen said. “How can they talk abougt a superior product when they only have nine of their own Sorensen said. “The producr is all over the map. The only thiny that has been consistenty isthe (baked-on-board) cookies and the cookieas have become a sad joke.
” Midwesf spokesman Michael Brophy said managemeng has been forced to reshape the airliner due to difficult economic “Monday morning quarterbacking is easy, but managingt an airline in this environmenrt requires versatility and hard work,” Brophg said. “We will let our customers do the talkinvg for us in terms of our In conjunction with the airlineservices agreement, Midwest also announced that it had securerd $60 million in financing as it continuexs to work to avoid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. “For the foreseeablwe future, we are out from under the cloud of unless oil shoots upto $200 a barrel, then the game changeas again,” Brophy said.
The new financinf commitment isfrom Midwest’s majoritu owner, , and , the Indianapolis-based airlinre holding company that operates Republic Airlines.