Red Way was an American virtual airline headquartered in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

, with its hub at Lincoln Airport. The airline's first flight occurred on June 8, 2023, with its flights operated by

Global Crossing Airlines Global Crossing Airlines, Inc. (operating as GlobalX Airlines) is an American Part 121 domestic, flag, and supplemental charter airline headquartered in Miami, Florida. GlobalX operates the majority of deportation flights on behalf of U.S. Immig ...

through a public charter agreement. Red Way ceased operations on August 31, 2023.

History

Establishment

In March 2023, Red Way was announced as a new airline serving seven domestic destinations from

, consisting of Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Nashville, and Orlando, with plans to begin operations from Lincoln Airport in June 2023. The airline commenced operations on June 8, 2023, operating as a virtual airline by selling seats on aircraft owned and operated by

under the banner of ''GlobalX Air Tours'', as Red Way lacked its own

air operator's certificate An air operator's certificate (AOC) is the approval granted by a civil aviation authority (CAA) to an aircraft operator to allow it to use aircraft for commercial air transport purposes. This requires the operator to have personnel, assets and s ...

. The establishment of the airline was enabled by a $3 million fund from the

American Rescue Plan Act The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package or American Rescue Plan, is a Stimulus (economics), economic stimulus bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President of the Unite ...

provided via the

City of Lincoln Lincoln () is a cathedral city and non-metropolitan district, district in Lincolnshire, England, of which it is the county town. In the 2021 Census, the city's district had a population of 103,813. The 2021 census gave the Lincoln Urban Area, u ...

, which significantly reduced start-up costs.

Operation

Red Way originally planned to fly mostly seasonal routes but changed its schedule to twice-weekly flights to each destination, with increased service on some routes from September 2023, before extending its schedule through November 2023, citing strong demand. Despite this, the airline announced on August 23, 2023, that it would cease operations at the end of that month, with the last flight occurring on August 31, 2023. The airline cited costs and lack of resources as the reason for ceasing operations. The airline operated for less than 3 months. Red Way is now under investigation by the Nebraska State Auditor's Office due to use of ARPA funds from the City of Lincoln and Lancaster County, Nebraska.

Destinations

Red Way flew from Lincoln Airport to several destinations within the United States:

Fleet

Red Way did not own its aircraft, instead, it chartered its flights through

, which operates a mix of

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

and

Airbus A321 The Airbus A321 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short to medium range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin engine jet airliners; it carries 185 to 236 passengers. It has a stretched fuselage which was ...

aircraft.

Service concept

Red Way operated a business model used by other

low-cost carrier A low-cost carrier (LCC) or low-cost airline, also called a budget, or discount carrier or airline, is an airline that is operated with an emphasis on minimizing operating costs. It sacrifices certain traditional airline luxuries for cheaper fa ...

s, with lower fares while additional services such as baggage allowances or in-flight catering were offered at an additional cost.

References

{{Airlines of the United States, state=collapsed Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 2023 Airlines disestablished in 2023 2023 establishments in Nebraska Airlines based in Nebraska American companies established in 2023 Companies based in Lincoln, Nebraska Defunct charter airlines of the United States Defunct charter airlines University of Nebraska–Lincoln