Deregulation and the regional-jet age

1978 — 2026

More airlines, smaller airplanes: The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 first showed at Fort Wayne as construction — the 1981 terminal modernization, jetways added "to handle increased traffic brought on by" the Act — and then as a roster: Air Wisconsin, Piedmont Airlines and Republic Airlines all began service in the late 1970s and early 1980s. American swung its Fort Wayne flying from Dallas to Chicago O'Hare; Air Wisconsin took over United's Chicago route, flying it in partnership with United and later as United Express, and kept a maintenance base on the field's west side through the 1980s and 1990s for its BAe 146s, ATPs and regional jets — a hangar later used briefly by Shuttle America, then Endeavor Air, and now by SkyWest. The 1990s made the trade explicit: in 1998 Delta ended mainline jet service to Atlanta, closing a mainline tradition that ran back through Chicago & Southern to the 1940s, and every carrier at the field followed the same path into regional jets and turboprops flown under connection brands. The low-cost era arrived in two waves: ATA Connection in late 2003, the airport's first low-cost carrier, flying to Chicago Midway and briefly Indianapolis before its parent closed the division in early 2005; and Allegiant Air in 2008, whose Florida and desert routes grew into the airport's largest single growth engine. The century's route ledger records both the failures and the returns: US Airways left entirely when its Pittsburgh service was cut in the post-merger de-hubbing; the American–US Airways merger then brought Fort Wayne its first Northeast routes since deregulation in October 2014, twice-daily Philadelphia and daily Charlotte; United added Newark in September 2016, its first non-Chicago route here since the mid-1980s, and withdrew it when passengers chose LaGuardia connections instead; American's Philadelphia service ended for good in May 2023 on the industry pilot shortage. The present shape, as the authority's 2025 report states it, is four airlines and fourteen nonstop destinations.

Sources:

1. Fort Wayne International Airport history record (airport authority, via the airport's published history) — the deregulation-era entrants, the Air Wisconsin maintenance base, Delta's 1998 mainline withdrawal, ATA Connection 2003–2005, Allegiant's 2008 arrival, the 2014 Philadelphia/Charlotte service, the 2016 Newark episode, the May 2023 Philadelphia ending.
2. Fort Wayne–Allen County Airport Authority, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, fiscal year 2025 — fourteen nonstop destinations on four airlines.