Midwest Airlines to ground its fuel-hungry MD-80 fleet

Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines has decided to ground its dozen -odd MD-80s around September, in line with its restructuring initiative.

Deployed primarily for flights to cities in the western part of the United States, such as Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco from Milwaukee, the MD-80 has turned out to be an inefficient fuel guzzler in the new fuel cost environment. Now that the fleet is on the ground, it is still unclear whether Midwest's routes to these cities would be cut back, eliminated, or serviced instead by its fleet of two-dozen odd Boeing 717s.

Analysts say that though the decision to ground the MD-80s has its operational justifications, it leaves Midwest Airlines with very few options in terms of long-haul capacity to access the western US from Milwaukee.

They say it also restricts Midwest's competitiveness, and makes it more vulnerable to competition.

The grounding of the MD-80 fleet is also likely to bring with it additional layoffs, over and above the 109 announced in April. At the time, Midwest had also announced a reduction in certain frequencies in an effort to save cash.

Midwest has hired the Seabury Group for assistance with the restructuring plan.