A drop from 118 departures a day to 90. Midwest Airlines is announcing major service cutbacks in an attempt to remain financially viable; citing rising fuel costs as the primary cause.
Several cities will lose flights from Midwest Airlines and its sister Midwest Express entirely. Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers are both victims of the cuts, with the company saying its too difficult to justify long flights to leisure destinations. Tampa will be the only Florida city retaining year-round service from Midwest.
Many other major markets are unaffected: Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Washington D.C., and New York - La Guardia are all still on Midwest's fight schedule.
Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect will also trim its fleet of planes. Twelve MD-80's and two Boeing 717's are being pulled out of service. The company has previously mentioned it may try to sell off a number of those out-of-service planes.
All the changes and cutbacks are effective September 8. If you've already booked a reservation on a now-discontinued Midwest Airlines or Midwest Connect flight, the airlines say you will be notified and can either reschedule or request a full refund.
The ramifications of these cuts will be felt in the next few weeks for Midwest employees: The company intends to trim 1,200 jobs out of its approximtely 3,000 person work force of flight attendants, pilots, ground crews, and maintenance personnel. That's a roughly 40 percent drop in staffing.
Source: http://www.620wtmj.com/news/local/25663314.html