Yesterday, Midwest Airlines revealed the new, reduced route map and slew of schedule changes it plans to implement on Sept. 8th as part of its larger restructuring effort brought on by high fuel prices and the company’s decision to ground its MD-80 planes.

What’s changing? Gone is service to leisure-friendly cities like Ft. Lauderdale and San Diego, as are direct flights from Milwaukee to West Coast cities Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. To keep its core business customers flying, the airline has retained service to and from major business centers and its hubs, Milwaukee and Kansas City.

All told, the airline will still service 32 cities.

Major carriers are launching a new money-making scheme that I approve of: ads on boarding passes. As the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, Delta has already added promotional messages, coupons and destination-based travel information like weather reports to some boarding passes and at least four other airlines (Continental, United, Northwest, US Airways) have partnered with the company producing the ads and expect to roll out the new boarding passes within the year.

Sure, some people will probably decry the presence of yet more advertising images in their everyday lives, but the airlines clearly need to find new revenue streams - and this one arguably benefits some travelers - and it certainly doesn’t take anything away.