Partners Overtakes Midwest Airlines

For the first time, Midwest Connect, powered by SkyWest Airlines and Republic Airways, overtook Midwest Airlines in terms of the number of passengers flown from Milwaukee, accounting for 22.6 percent of the airport’s market share compared to 15.4 percent for Midwest Airlines. Midwest was forced to seriously retrench last year with the fuel crisis. The retrenchment included shutting down its regional operation in favor of capacity purchase agreements with the two regional carriers, both of which used much larger aircraft than the in-house regional which is now an airport service operator. The combined Midwest Connect/Midwest Airlines took a 38 percent market share at the airport, up from October’s 36.2 percent but significantly diminished over its historic market share of more than 50 percent.