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Geoff Crowley is the chairman, president and chief executive officer of Air Wisconsin Airlines Corp. (AWAC), which flies as United Express out of Chicago and Denver. Before coming to AWAC in 1993, he was founder of CJT Holdings, formed to buy the jet operation of Air Wisconsin from United Airlines.
Before forming CJT Holdings, he was vice president of marketing alliances for Northwest Airlines. In that position, he managed the KLM-Northwest global alliance, along with developing the Northwest Airlink program.
Crowley and C/R News Senior Editor Benet Wilson met recently at an airline conference in Las Vegas, where he discussed Air Wisconsin's health, the carrier's fleet and its plans for the future. Q. What is the state of Air Wisconsin these days? A. The relationship with United is excellent. They've kept up with their end of the bargain that we conceived together a couple of years ago. We've seen some reasonable growth, although most of it occurred through better utilization of the airplane. But we asked to create a more cost-effective company and {United} lived up to its end of that. Labor relations have been excellent. Everybody in the company gave up quite a bit to make the company survive and they've lived up to their end. They've given and the company is back on track. Even though they did give a lot, we're not seeing any negative repercussions in our relationships.
On the financial front, we're meeting our business plan. We were a little ahead in the first year and just about right on in the second year, so that's positive. The {BAe 146} has performed to our expectations from a cost standpoint. We were probably able to lower the cost more than we thought we could, which is good news. From an operational standpoint, {the 146} is meeting our expectations and we're hoping to continue improvement in that regard. Q. What are the company's latest revenue, expenses and income? A. We haven't issued the fourth quarter yet, but you'll see our operating income has gone up 15%. Last year, the company's revenues were at about $120 million. Q. How has the recent stampede of airlines into Aspen, once an area you flew alone, affected load factors and traffic on your route? How...