Vanguard Airlines was an American airline based in Kansas City, Missouri, where it operated a hub from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s. For a time, Vanguard also had significant operations at Chicago Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois, until late 2000. It ceased operations on July 29, 2002, after filing for bankruptcy. The airline flew leased Boeing 727-200, 737-200, 737-300 as well as McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series and MD-87 jetliners to a number of destinations from its main hub in Kansas City at the time of its demise. Vanguard Airlines started service in 1994.
History
Early history
Vanguard was originally started as a low-cost, low-fare airline, the purpose of which was to undercut the costs of the major airlines and so be able to charge lower fares. Super-low regular advance fares of as little as $29 each way were the standard. Sale fares of as little as $10 were not uncommon. By the time Vanguard began operations, however, most major air carriers had learned how to deal with such competition. They simply lowered prices in the markets where these smaller airlines flew, thus making it difficult for the low-cost airlines to be profitable.
Destinations during the mid and late 1990s
In early 1995, Vanguard was operating scheduled nonstop service between its Kansas City hub and Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver and Milwaukee as well as direct service between Kansas City and Salt Lake City via a stop in Denver with all flights being operated with Boeing 737-200 jets configured with all-coach, single class passenger cabins. By the summer of 1995, the new start-up airline had added new service between Kansas City and Des Moines, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Wichita as well as between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Chicago Midway Airport, and was also operating nonstop service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Denver, Kansas City and Wichita as well as nonstop flights between Denver and Salt Lake City but was no longer serving Milwaukee. One year later in the summer of 1996, Vanguard was flying nonstops between Kansas City and California with service to Los Angeles (LAX) and San Francisco (SFO) in addition to operating nonstop service between Wichita and Chicago Midway Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth, Denver and Kansas City. By the winter of 1996, the airline was operating new service between Kansas City and Atlanta, Fort Myers, Las Vegas, Miami, Orlando and Tampa but was no longer serving Salt Lake City. Flights between Kansas City and New York City were added to the route system by the late summer of 1997 but service to Des Moines, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and Wichita as well as to the four destinations in Florida had been discontinued. By the fall of 1997, nonstops between Kansas City and Washington D.C. Dulles Airport as well as between Chicago Midway Airport and Pittsburgh were being flown with the airline also operating nonstop service between New York JFK Airport and Atlanta, Kansas City and Pittsburgh. In 1998, Myrtle Beach was being served nonstop from Atlanta as well as direct from Kansas City via a stop in Atlanta; however, the airline was no longer serving New York City and San Francisco (SFO). In the summer of 1999, Vanguard was operating a small hub (focus city) at Chicago with nonstop flights between Midway Airport and Buffalo, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul and Pittsburgh in addition to continuing to operate its Kansas City hub, and was also operating seasonal nonstop service between Myrtle Beach and Pittsburgh in 1999.
Destinations during the early 2000s
In 2000, Vanguard had resumed nonstop service between its Kansas City hub and New York City with service to LaGuardia Airport instead of JFK Airport in addition to adding new service to New Orleans and was also flying new nonstop service between Denver and Chicago Midway Airport as well as seasonal nonstop service between Myrtle Beach and Buffalo and Pittsburgh but was no longer serving Cincinnati. By the end of 2001, the airline had added new nonstop service between Kansas City and Austin, Colorado Springs and Fort Lauderdale, and had also resumed nonstop flights between Kansas City and Los Angeles (LAX), Las Vegas and San Francisco (SFO) but had scaled back its flights at Chicago Midway Airport with only a Kansas City - Chicago - Buffalo route being operated.