Chicago Air was a

regional airline A regional airline is a general classification of airline which typically operates scheduled passenger air service, using regional aircraft, between communities lacking sufficient demand or infrastructure to attract mainline flights. In North ...

carrier that operated in 1986 and exchanged passengers with all-jet Midway Airlines at

Chicago Midway International Airport Chicago Midway International Airport , typically referred to as Midway Airport, Chicago Midway, or simply Midway, is a major commercial airport on the Southwest side of Chicago, Illinois, located approximately 12 miles (19 km) from the Lo ...

History

The carrier operated revenue service from May to November, 1986 between Chicago and

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, Green Bay,

LaCrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

Eau Claire Eau Claire (French for "clear water", ''pl.'' ''eaux claires'') is the name of a number of locations and features in North America. The name is pronounced as if it were spelled "O'Clare". Place names (Canada) Communities *Eau Claire, Calgary, a n ...

, and Wausau, WI;

Traverse City Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was ...

, MI; and, Peoria,

Springfield Springfield may refer to: * Springfield (toponym), the place name in general Places and locations Australia * Springfield, New South Wales (Central Coast) * Springfield, New South Wales (Snowy Monaro Regional Council) * Springfield, Queenslan ...

and

Quad Cities The Quad Cities is a region of cities (originally four, see History) in the U.S. states of Iowa and Illinois: Davenport and Bettendorf in southeastern Iowa, and Rock Island, Moline and East Moline in northwestern Illinois. These cities are t ...

, IL. It operated six

Fokker F27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Euro ...

turboprop aircraft, and the call sign was "Wild Onion" in reference to the Chippewa Indian derivation of the name "Chicago." The Fokker aircraft were subleased from

Midstate Airlines Midstate Airlines (also known as Mid-State Airlines and Midstate Air Commuter (MAC)) was an airline with its headquarters in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. History It was founded by Roy P. Shwery in 1964 and provided air service out of Marshfield, ...

Stevens Point Stevens Point is the county seat of Portage County, Wisconsin, United States. The city was incorporated in 1858. Its 2020 population of 25,666 makes it the largest city in the county. Stevens Point forms the core of the United States Census Bur ...

, Wisconsin, which also performed contract maintenance work on the aircraft at their Central Wisconsin Airport facility. Chicago Air had been working closely for two years with Saab Aircraft of Linköping, Sweden to acquire initially 10 Saab SF-340

turboprop A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller. A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. Fuel ...

commuter aircraft A regional airliner or a feederliner is a small airliner that is designed to fly up to 100 passengers on short-haul flights, usually feeding larger carriers' airline hubs from small markets. This class of airliners is typically flown by the reg ...

, which would have begun delivery in 1987 enabling expansion of services to Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Waterloo, IA; South Bend, Ft. Wayne, Lafayette, and Evansville, IN; and Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids, MI. Chicago Air held a further option for 16 of the SF-340 aircraft, which would have enabled the carrier to expand services to additional markets in Michigan, Ohio, Missouri and Minnesota. In addition to its low-fare cachet and connections at convenient Midway Airport, Chicago Air introduced several important service improvements to the regional airline industry, including quality complimentary meal service, premium regional beers, wine and cocktails, national and regional newspapers, and many other innovative ground and in-flight seating and amenities. The introduction of non-refundable fares by all competitive carriers and dramatically increased competitive advertising and promotions during the 1986 summer season made the Chicago Air venture a short-lived enterprise. It ceased service in November, 1986, when

discontinued the subleasing agreement with Chicago Air for Fokker F27 aircraft, as well as use of the maintenance facilities. Soon after, Midway Airlines launched the successful regional "Midway Connection" service operated by Fischer Brothers Aviation with the smaller

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin-turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 19 ...

. The airline was led by

Neal F. Meehan Neal (Neil) is a given masculine name and surname of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an Anglicisation of the Irish Niall which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "hon ...

(President), former president of

Continental Express Continental Express was the operating brand name used by a number of independently owned regional airlines providing commuter airliner and regional jet feeder service under agreement with Continental Airlines. In 2012 at the time of the merger be ...

Airlines and of

New York Air New York Air was a low-cost U.S. airline owned by Texas Air Corporation and based at Hangar 5 at LaGuardia Airport in Flushing, Queens, New York. It ceased operations on February 1, 1987, in a merger with Continental Airlines. New York Air ...

; and by J. Scott Christian (Executive V.P.), a former senior manager at

Continental Airlines Continental Airlines, simply known as Continental, was a major United States airline founded in 1934 and eventually headquartered in Houston, Texas. It had ownership interests and brand partnerships with several carriers. Continental started o ...

;

Booz Allen Hamilton Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation (informally Booz Allen) is the parent of Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., an American management and information technology consulting firm, headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in Greater Washington, D.C., with 8 ...

; and

. Meehan and Christian together controlled 50 percent of the carrier's voting stock, with the remaining shares held mostly by a small group of Chicago area investors.

History

See also