Editing Midwest Airlines (section)

====Flight outsourcing to Republic Airlines====
On September 3, 2008, Midwest Airlines announced its plan to [[Outsourcing|outsource]] all of its flight operations to [[Republic Airways Holdings|Republic Airways]]. Republic began operating twelve 76-seat [[Embraer E-Jet family|Embraer ERJ-170]] jets under the Midwest Connect name while Midwest returned its 25 [[Boeing 717]] planes to Boeing under a lease renegotiation.<ref name="MidwestRepublicPR">{{cite web|url=http://www.midwestairlines.com/Templates/ContentTwoColumn.aspx?id=929|title=Midwest Airlines Announces Progress on Restructuring Plan|date=September 3, 2008|publisher=Midwest Airlines|access-date=October 23, 2008}} {{Dead link|date=August 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> While this change caused the additional layoffs bringing the total of pink-slipped Midwest pilots to nearly 300<ref name="ALPARepublicPR">{{cite web|url=http://www.dontoutsourcemidwest.com/DesktopModules/ALPA_Documents/ALPA_DocumentsView.aspx?itemid=15922&ModuleId=12567&Tabid=73 |title=Midwest Pilots Express Outrage at Airline's Deal with Republic Airways |date=September 3, 2008 |publisher=[[Air Line Pilots Association]] |access-date=October 23, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111005092733/http://www.dontoutsourcemidwest.com/DesktopModules/ALPA_Documents/ALPA_DocumentsView.aspx?itemid=15922&ModuleId=12567&Tabid=73 |archive-date=October 5, 2011 }}</ref> and total employee cuts for the year to 1,850,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jsonline.com/business/38824797.html|title=Midwest Airlines cutting 59 jobs}}</ref> Midwest indicated that it hoped to begin operating these new planes itself with Midwest crews in 8–12 months from that time.<ref name="MidwestRepublicPR" /> Additional aircraft from Republic were added to the operation in the form of larger [[Embraer E-Jet family|Embraer ERJ-190s]] in August 2009. [[Chautauqua Airlines]], a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic Airways, also began service as Midwest Connect in August 2009 using [[Embraer ERJ family|Embraer 135/145]] regional jets.

The Midwest branch of the [[Air Line Pilots Association, International|Air Line Pilots Association]] launched a campaign protesting the Midwest outsourcing plan shortly after it was announced. They argued that the pilots had already made significant concessions to help Midwest Airlines survive and that the company's new contract offers represented draconian demands.<ref name="dontoutsourcemidwest.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.dontoutsourcemidwest.com/Default.aspx?tabid=3561|title=dontoutsourcemidwest.com|publisher=[[Air Line Pilots Association]]|access-date=October 23, 2008}} {{dead link|date=September 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>