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In the mid-1980s, Richard Winwood, working at his kitchen table, designed the Franklin Planner. The wildly successful product became the cornerstone of the former Franklin Quest Co. and made Winwood tens of millions of dollars.
More than a decade later, Winwood would lose a good part of that fortune on a start-up airline by the name of Winair Airlines.
"Maybe that's part of the problem," Winwood said. "You hit a home run on one of them and think you can't miss."
Winair, based in Salt Lake City, shut down at midnight Tuesday after losing more than $15 million -- maybe considerably more -- in a mere eight months.
The airline's losses came with staggering speed, probably surprising Winwood as much as the Franklin Planner's stunning success.
Ultimately, even Winwood's fortune was not enough to keep the discount airline afloat.
"He proves the adage: `You want to know how to make a small fortune in the airline business? Start out with a large fortune,' " said Darryl Jenkins, a professor of airline economics at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Yet the airline industry holds an irrational attraction. The business is glamorous, even sexy. Jenkins likens it to owning a professional sports team.
"I consider people who work outside the airline industry children of a lesser God," Jenkins said. "And everyone I work with feels the same way."
Winair began modestly, starting as a charter airline best known for its affiliation with the Utah Jazz. And when the company decided to start a commercial airline, its business plan set it apart from most start-up airlines.
The plan was to sidestep direct competition with the major airlines by basing its operations out of the Long Beach airport in California. The airport is limited to 41 daily flights. Twenty-nine of those slots...