MKE Pawn

This morning the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Northwest has written off its investment of Midwest Airlines. One could argue, as Northwest's spokesman does, that this is simply Northwest following the simple rules of conservative accounting. However, it is more than likely another sign of Midwest's impending demise (this has been coming since the end of June).

When this is all said and done, the MJS story goes on, Northwest will have spent a bit over $200 million to protect Milwaukee from AirTran. From a network perspective, it is probably better for the MKE traveler that Northwest felt compelled to defend this territory.