What Really Happened With Hooters Air

If you didn’t know that the Hooters chain actually had a real, legitimate airline, you’re definitely not the only one. It shared the skies with the likes of Delta and United, and it ran for a whopping 3 years before it was discontinued indefinitely. So, what happened to make this all-leather seat filled fun in the sky go kaput?

888-FLY-HOOT!

Known widely as a literal flying billboard for the Hooters brand, this new airline’s home hub was in one of Hooter’s hottest consumer towns of coastal Myrtle Beach, North Carolina. Trying to be the Spirit Airline of low pricing to fun golf and beach destinations, the flights were direct, with the promise of real hooters girls assisting certified flight attendants on board.

Details, Schme-tails.

Before working out the kinks of highly imperative details that come along with operating an entire airline, Hooters just sent the planes out anyway. In a confusing array of events, Hooters decided not to serve any signature food or beverages, but kept restaurant classic games like their trivia night. And though there were official flight attendants on board, the assisting servers were untrained in even the simplest tasks, such as pushing drink carts.

Simple Math Was Never Involved

Hooters was so successful as a restaurant chain, that owners took all that extra cash flow and blindingly dumped it into Hooters air without much math work to determine what would actually make it profitable and just as successful as the restaurants. This, timed with the terrible launch date in the midst of the aftermath of 9/11, caused the airline’s bottom line to plummet within just 3 years, landing Hooters air in an early grave of debt amounting to $40 million.