I've flown out of MDW on CO once -- about two months ago. It certainly was easier than dealing with ORD, and CO's gates are very quick and easy to get to from security. It did require a connection at CLE but it was more miles, and since my other half was flying FL out of MDW about the same time, it was a lot more convenient for us to go to the same airport.

As a bit of trivia, CO did serve MDW with mainline aircraft from IAH about 10 years ago.

That really sucks. I do most of my flying out of ORD, but man MDW came through in a few situations to get me where I needed to be on-time when O'hare would have left me home.

CO used to serve MDW to CLE with a mainline aircraft also.

Glad I have been there already. Have to say the airport was nice and the (mainline) aircraft was completely filled (out of EWR)

I have no idea though how convenient it is to get to town. I was on a connection to ATA to DCA :D Don't ask.... :p

Both MDW and ORD are on the "L", elevated train, so it is very convenient (and cheap) to get into Chicago (about $2). You can buy a 3 day pass at the airport stations for example for about $12 or something in that range and get unlimited train and bus rides which includes to/from the airport.

Chicago has about the cheapest mass tranist system that I know of. Chicago is a great town in the summer. (but too cold in the winter).

MDW is about 30 minutes to the Loop and ORD is about 45 minutes to the Loop. But the trains have been running slow with track repairs. But if you are going to North part of Chicago - ORD is closer and it is quicker to transfer off the train and take the bus East toward the Lake, rather go downtown and transfer on the L to go back North.

Wow -- after living in Chicago for two years and taking hundreds of flights in/out/through there I have to say I've never once been to MDW. I've been ticketed to/through there, but always ended up at ORD for one reason or another.

I doubt NW will leave MDW. DL just started flying MDW-ATL about 6-9 months ago with EMB170's with both F and Y. NW has a much bigger operation at MDW, with mainline jets. And now with the DL combination - the new DL will have lots of flights to/from MDW.

CO used to be all mainline jets to/from MDW, before the MDW terminal was rebuilt, but with the shift to RJ's - CO's market share has dropped. Fare pressure from WN and CO with limited RJ seats - CO can not compete there.

I liked flying into MDW, but I usually departed out of ORD because of the PC. I have flown NW from DTW/MDW many times, and upgrades are easy on that route.

Delta is also flying a "Shuttle" operation from the Marine Air Terminal to MDW on CRJs. I cannot imagine that either NW or DL would pull out, as their routes from MDW don't seem to have the same fare pressures as CO did.

If your cutting MDW then lets cut LGA or JFK....why is that not being done?
 

I was very surprised to have seen this on the local CLE news last week. MDW was my preferred Chicago destination with CO, I wish CO would reconsider this as MDW is very easy to get in/out of for my day trips to CHI.

After hearing this at first I had to wonder is this tied to any possible merger deals in the future considering its ORD being saved and the fact that CO did not cut duplicate airline routes to the NYC area to LGA or JFK since EWR is their hub. If fuel is the reason then lets cut at least one of those airports, "whats good for the goose is good for the gander" IMHO (not that I want any routes like these to be cut but why not consider those routes also?).

IMHO I think this was just a good way to save some $$$$ without a large impact. I too prefer MDW over ORD but recognize that the yields must have sucked big time given the typical fares.

LGA has much higher yields due to the high walk-up fares and JFK is a key connector to Skyteam and Virgin Atlantic flights. Plus, most importantly, Southwest does not fly to either.ig

My big question - does this mean something might happen with BWI or IAD?

Not sure what you mean "something might happen with MDW" - as CO is shutting down. CO had scaled back MDW with RJ's and Q400s and now closing. Even ORD is reduced with the RJ's to CLE, and 735s to EWR.

Now IAD is another issue. CO has scaled back IAD operations so much - I am not sure if it is worth CO flying there. I believe it is only RJ's now, and RJ's are not cost effective with 50 seats. I even see a decline in the number of passengers out of DCA on CO, with many empty seats and some DCA flights shifting to RJs. CO has so much focused on its orginating hub traffic, I think they are losing passengers elsewhere.

Maybe CO will get out of its small markets - many of those served only with RJs. But that was the rationale for getting the RJ's - to serve small markets.

I will really miss MDW. The rental car location is right in the parking garage under the terminal. It has a nice little food court. Security there is pretty easy. Plus, it looks so much nicer than ORD.

At year end, I will probably have traveled to and from Chicago about 30-40 times. All those trips to ORD is going to make me mental... LOL

With WAS being opened up to most traffic (if not 100%), wouldn't it be wise for CO to move all of their ops over there? :confused: I realize that there is demand for IAD, but there is for MDW, too.

You have to look at the big picture, not just a generic co-term argument. LGA and JFK do not generally suffer the fare pressures that MDW did/does. They aren't cutting the route because it is a duplicate; they are cutting it because it is not profitable. I'm particularly interested to see if the up-guage the aircraft at peak times to/from ORD since the demand has theoretically remained static while the number of seats on the route has dropped by ~100 daily. Speaking of which, when did CO cut back to 2x ERJ daily on the EWR-MDW route? It used to be mainline 3-4x daily.

CO has been gearing up to dump MDW for a while...
 

It's always tricky for an airline at OA hubs but CO doesn't really need ORD and MDW.

The service is being discontinued June 1. Don't ask me how I know this but the only A/C that CO would have available starting in June for MDW would have been XRJs that require 20% of the seats to be held. With fares to CLE already so low, it would have made even less sense to keep flying it.

I wouldn't read too much into regarding any potential merger with United. This makes sense with or without merger. And besides, I think Kellner will still get cold feet about a deal and try to figure a way to survive without one (at least with UA, which Tilton has run into the ground).