Midway Airlines built its brand on a Chicago airport it later left
Midway Airlines took its name from Chicago Midway International Airport, the field its founders set out to revive. The carrier began flying in 1979 and shut down in 1991.
Midway Airlines was incorporated in 1976 with one aim: to bring traffic back to Chicago Midway International Airport, which had been the world's busiest airport before larger carriers shifted their operations to O'Hare.
The founders named the airline after the airport because reviving it was the whole business plan.
Flights began on November 1, 1979, using three DC-9s. Within a few years the carrier had turned Midway into a working hub that handled millions of passengers.
The airline filed for bankruptcy in 1991 and ceased operations on November 13 of that year.
Sources
- simpleflying.comThe Only US Airline That Abandoned Its Namesake Hub & Kept The Brand Anyway