moved from Champion Air to Northwest's own flights throughout the 2008 year. This was a significant blow, as MLT Vacations accounted for roughly 75-80 percent of all operations. In January 2008, it was disclosed that Champion's contract to provide charter flights for 13 National Basketball Association teams would also be taken over by Northwest, who had hired several Champion Air pilots in the preceding months. On March 31, 2008, Champion President and CEO Lee Steele announced that "the company will cease all flight operations as of May 31, 2008." He cited high fuel costs and the inefficiency of their aging Boeing 727-200 fleet as some of the major reasons behind the shutdown. "Our business model is no longer viable in a world of $110 oil, a struggling economy and rapidly changing demand for our services" The carrier will not be filing bankruptcy. The airline was wholly owned by Champion Air Management and had 737 employees as of January 2005. Fleet As of March 2007 the Champion Air fleet included: 6 Boeing 727-200 Advanced aircraft equipped with 56 Business Class Seating 10 Boeing 727-200 Advanced aircraft equipped with all Coach Class Seating In popular culture An ex Champion Air 727-200 N293AS (known as N293AS during Champion Air ownership) was used in the Channel 4 (UK) / Discovery Channel (USA) experiment where the aircraft was crashed on a dried lake in Northern Mexico. See also List of defunct airlines of the United States References External links Defunct airlines of the United States Companies based in Bloomington, Minnesota Airlines established in 1995 Airlines disestablished in 2008 Defunct companies based in Minnesota 1995 establishments in Minnesota 2008 disestablishments in Minnesota