Air Wisconsin, one of the oldest and largest regional airlines that fly short-haul service for the majors is shifting partners next spring from United to American. Under the deal, forty or more 50-seat jets will switch from United Express to American Eagle, operating from a hub at Chicago O’Hare.
The move comes several months after United said it was dropping out of single-class 50-seat service and would concentrate on getting bigger planes that are preferred by business travelers into many of the Air Wisconsin cities… but not all. In addition to picking up Air Wisconsin as a partner, it is possible that American may add some service to dropped cities.
The change-over, which will take place in the spring, will not be the first for Air Wisconsin, which was at one time owned by United, and flew as United Express up to 2005. It also briefly operated flights for AirTran. From 2005 to 2015, it operated as US Air Express, and then as American Eagle after the USAir-AA merger. In 2018 it went back to United.
