These 30 aircraft will fly on some routes previously operated for United by Air Wisconsin Airlines. As the company indicated in an announcement to employees late last month, United also is considering reductions in the United Express fleet to further reduce spending on U.S. domestic capacity, given high fuel prices and the current fare levels.
Air Wisconsin is based in Appleton and recently invested in US Airways as part of a deal to redeploy aircraft.
Midwest, in a somewhat bold move, is expanding Milwaukee service to Northwest’s fortress hub in Minneapolis. (Northwest has been expanding nonstop flights from Midwest’s Milwaukee hub to several cities in an obvious effort to kill their much smaller competitor).
Designed by Albert Kahn, opened to the public in 1904. The Belle Isle Aquarium is North America’s oldest continuously operating public aquarium. The aquarium is the home of 146 species, many of these are native Michigan fish. The building itself is a one of kind. The interior is a classic example of early 20th century architecture.
The lobby of the Kalahari Waterpark in the Wisconsin Dells at check-in time on a recent Saturday afternoon was equal parts Marx Brothers anarchy, Andy Hardy freckles and “Dude, Where’s My Car?” goofiness. Just as the line to the front desk began moving, five revelers barely into their teens hijacked an empty luggage rack, and with one pushing and four aboard, raced, shrieking, around the lobby, which seemed roughly the size of a par-three nine-hole golf course.
I quickly cruised the lobby in search of my friend Julia, a fine-arts administrator who did not want her last name used because she was embarrassed even to be seen in the Dells. Not finding her, I went back outside and ran into a traffic jam. The gridlock consisted mostly of two types of vehicles trying to get near this hostelry, which has a 125,000-square-foot indoor water park, the largest in the country. On the one hand were the monster-size recreational vehicles, which disgorged the incoming families. Going up against them were teenagers revving the engines of a score of pizza-delivery cars, lined up like impatient taxi drivers at the airport as they waited to drop off their wares and rush back for more.
In adding service to Denver, Northwest is creating another direct challenge to Midwest Airlines, which is owned by Oak Creek-based Midwest Air Group Inc. Northwest in February added daily service to Pittsburgh and Toronto, destinations also served by Midwest Airlines.
Note that Northwest is using cramped regional jets, which, I don’t believe will be much of a problem for Midwest to compete with.
A glorious view, worth the flight and/or drive. Visit. I continue to believe that this is a much, much better long term investment than Miller Park. Perhaps new Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio can make something happen…. (Baseball downtown would have been so much better).
Northwest Airlink announced non-stop regional jet service from Madison to Washington Reagan National this week. This is useful, although the times are rather odd (early afternoon – perhaps a time when regional jets are not that crowded on other routes).
I hope Milwaukee based Midwest Airlines continues to survive the industry’s turmoil. They do provide great service (and actually respond to email, what a concept….).
Santiago Ribas posted some wonderful Quicktime VR Scenes from Portugal here.
Mark Houston has posted some very, very nice Quicktime VR scenes from the North American International Auto Show. If you like cars, you’ll like these scenes.
