Midwest Express Airlines on Tuesday said it has entered into an agreement with Elite Airways LLC to eventually begin nonstop flight service from Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport.

There are no routes scheduled, and a timetable for beginning the service was not announced.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

"The focus of the initial routes and flight times will be based on business community needs and Midwest Express expects to announce details about its service in the coming weeks," the company said in a statement. “We continue to be encouraged by the support we are getting as we talk to leaders in the business community.”

The agreement is the next step in the process that began in 2017 of bringing the Midwest Express brand back to Milwaukee.

Midwest Express, later Midwest Airlines, stopped flying nearly 10 years ago.

The Midwest Express brand stirs tremendous interest in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. It is still widely known for serving warm chocolate chip cookies on its flights.

At its peak in 2007, Midwest and its feeder airline Midwest Connect controlled just under 55% of the passenger traffic at Mitchell, according to statistics from the airport.

Essentially, all of Midwest's seats were first class. The flights, many if not most of them nonstop from Milwaukee, were roomy, with two-across leather seats — and the cookies.

In the mid- to late 2000s, Midwest and other carriers began to be squeezed as fixed costs such as labor and fuel soared. The economics of the airline industry shifted to a model in which carriers fly planes jammed full of people on busy, in-demand routes.

Those industry economics eventually caught up with Midwest. It was taken over by Indianapolis-based Republic Airways Holdings. The Midwest name was eliminated in 2011.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines became and remains the dominant carrier at Mitchell.

Backers see need for service

Greg Aretakis, president of the new Midwest Express and an airline industry veteran, is leading the effort to revive the brand.

“This agreement with Elite Airways is a key step to bringing much-needed nonstop service back to Milwaukee,” Aretakis said in the statement. “We identified Elite Airways as a well-suited partner due to its extensive operating experience, high-quality customer service approach, and exemplary safety record.

"By partnering with Elite, we expedite bringing our service to the market while we pursue federal licenses required to operate independently.”

Those federal licenses are difficult and costly to obtain. An airline must demonstrate to federal regulators that it has the people, facilities, procedures and equipment to operate safely. It also must demonstrate that it has a viable business plan and enough money to remain viable.

Elite Airways is what's known as a U.S. Part 121 air carrier. It provides charter and scheduled service throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Caribbean and South America.

The company is based in Portland, Maine, with maintenance, crew training, sales and marketing located in Melbourne, Florida.

Air carriers operating under a Part 121 certificate are generally large, U.S.-based airlines, regional air carriers and all cargo operators, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

As of Tuesday, representatives of neither Midwest nor Elite had approached Mitchell about any plans to secure gate areas or ticket counter space at the airport. Midwest Express Airlines' corporate headquarters is adjacent to Mitchell.

Elite Airways flies Bombardier CRJ 200 and CRJ 700 regional jets. The CRJ 200s have 50 seats and the CRJ 700s have 70 seats.

Elite has a fleet of 17 aircraft.

Here are some of the details of the agreement, according to the statement:

• Elite Airways will operate the initial aircraft and provide flight crews and maintenance service for Midwest Express.

• Midwest Express plans to establish its own reservations system, customer service operations and in-flight amenities to support the new flights.

• All public-facing customer interaction, including the branding on the planes, will be Midwest Express.

Contact Joe Taschler at (414) 224-2554 or jtaschler@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeTaschler or Facebook at facebook.com/joe.taschler.1.