battle, suffered another severe financial blow as a result of the 2008 fuel price spike. Midwest's fleet of MD-80 airliners had been well suited to its markets and Midwest's high-service business model during the 1990s, but by 2008 it was no longer fuel efficient as compared with newer aircraft designs. Midwest terminated the leases on those aircraft and returned them to their lessors. Shortly thereafter, as the result of a failed lease renegotiation with Boeing, Midwest also lost the leases on 16 of its 25 newer Boeing 717 aircraft, leaving the airline with only 9 of the 38 aircraft with which it had started the year. On September 3, 2008, Skyway's parent Midwest Airlines announced an agreement to transfer most of its mainline flight operations to another independent regional airline, Republic Airways. Republic agreed to operate 12 76-seat Embraer 170 jets under the Midwest Connect name and provide Midwest $20 million in financing. As a result, Midwest furloughed 269 of its 399 pilots and total employee cuts for the year were approximately 1,850. On February 2, 2009, Midwest Air Group CEO Tim Hoeksema announced in an internal corporate memorandum that all remaining Skyway functions will be assumed by Midwest Airlines, and that Skyway will cease to exist as a separate entity. No end date for Skyway operations had been announced. It remains unclear if Skyway had been fully integrated into Midwest prior to Republic Airways' acquisition of Midwest from TPG. Destinations At the end of flight operations, Skyway Airlines flew to 19 destinations in Canada and the United States. The airline's hub was at Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport. Most destinations were taken over by SkyWest on April 6, 2008. The remaining few (part of the Essential Air Service program) saw a termination of service. Historically, approximately 60 markets were served at one time by Skyway Airlines. Most destinations were served nonstop from Milwaukee; however, some point-to-point services were also operated. Many of these were served in the era when Mesa Airlines operated Skyway, choosing to focus resources outside of the Midwest Express hub in Milwaukee. Markets denoted with * were served by Skyway at or shortly before shutdown. Markets denoted with + were served exclusively in the early 1990s by Mesa Airlines operating as Skyway. Arkansas Little Rock (to Kansas City) Connecticut Hartford* Illinois Bloomington (to Detroit+) Chicago Midway (to Milwaukee and Louisville+) Moline (to Milwaukee and Kansas City)