... is officially dead. Or put on a shelf. On Tuesday Republic Airways Holdings announced that their major airline ‘holdings’ – Frontier and Midwest Airlines – would now become one … Frontier. It’s a bigger brand; hard to argue at this point with anything the Republic folks have done. Yet, for long-time travelers who still remember the passenger glory days of regulation, the Midwest demise is in a way a last gasp.
Long based at our offices in Wisconsin, I was (then) a Midwest Express frequent flyer. All first-class leather seats and first-class treatment -- one of the start-ups out of deregulation in the ‘80s. Only airline I ever had lobster or filet mignon on ... only airline that regularly served eggs benedict for breakfast. And there was the free champagne (not a champagne drinker), and the fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. You could smell the chocolate throughout the fuselage.
Turns out, the new Frontier Airlines will retain the chocolate chip cookies. Smart move (it truly is the little things, especially with airlines these days ... like peanuts).
Midwest Express is a microcosm of the airline industry since 1984, when the airline was launched. In 1948, the paper mill company of Kimberly-Clark established a flight department, which grew into K-C Aviation, in time a major business aviation service provider. K-C was flying DC-9s corporately between offices; they added a schedule and FAA certification and became an airline, offering first-class service in an era when it was in vogue. After that, they would buy another DC-9 and add a route.
In the ‘90s Kimberly-Clark got out of the airline business and Midwest Express went to Wall Street. Initially, the stock was hot ... 9/11 killed that.
Comments Republic chair//CEO Bryan Bedford, “This decision was an emotional one for everyone involved. While the research showed that customers preferred the Frontier brand, they also expressed a strong loyalty to both brands based on affordability, convenience, destinations, and delivery of a differentiated experience. As we work to integrate these two brands into a unified Frontier Airlines, you can expect to see a lot of influence from the Midwest brand. This will include the introduction of the iconic Midwest Airlines chocolate chip cookie on all Frontier flights this summer.”
Well, at least we have a chocolate chip cookie to hold onto.
Thanks for reading. jfi