Another Airline--Midway--to Quit John Wayne Airport

Midway Airlines said Friday it will stop service to Orange County on June 1, in a move designed to rid it of an uneconomical destination and to free equipment for expanded service at other airports.

The county pullout will leave John Wayne Airport with one less commercial air carrier than it had before a $130-million expansion project completed in September.

USAir said in January that it will withdraw from the airport May 2, giving up 22 daily flights. Those flights have already been parceled out to other airlines.

Midway, which filed for bankruptcy reorganization earlier this year, has two daily flights from Orange County, both to Chicago, where Midway is based.

Airport officials said that both flights will be reallocated to other carriers and that there is no concern about reduced service.

The eight remaining carriers at the airport have applied for more daily flights than are available at the tightly controlled facility, where a 1985 settlement of a noise lawsuit effectively regulates the number of flights and total number of passengers that can be served each year.

Airport spokeswoman Courtney Wiercioch said Friday that United Airlines and Delta Air Lines are next on the flight allocation list and that both have said they want more flights.

Delta has eight daily flights to its regional hubs in Salt Lake City and Dallas, while United has six, to Chicago and San Francisco, and will increase to eight on May 2.

Carriers remaining at the county-owned airport are Alaska, American, America West, Continental, Delta, Northwest, TWA and United airlines.