APPLETON, WI, — Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation is pleased to announce that Christine Deister has been named President and Chief Executive Officer of the airline. Ms. Deister will assume all of the responsibilities of Interim President Patrick Thompson, who will resume his duties as Chairman of the airline.

Ms. Deister will assume her expanded duties leading the entire Air Wisconsin organization effective immediately. Reporting directly to Christine will be Vince Portaro – Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Stan Petersen Gauthier – Sr. Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer, as well as the Safety/Regulatory and Human Resources departments.

Christine most recently held the position of Chief Commercial Officer for the airline and prior to that held the position of Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer since November 2004, when she joined the company. Before joining Air Wisconsin, she was the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for four years at Hawaiian Airlines in Honolulu, following a long career at Trans World Airlines, where she last held the position of Senior Vice President of Finance and Treasurer.

“We are extremely pleased that Christine is assuming the leadership helm of the airline and its great team of employees, " said Mr. Thompson. “The regional airline environment is rapidly transforming, and we are very fortunate to have Christine as a seasoned, focused executive with proven leadership skills and the broad range of industry experience to successfully lead Air W isconsin into the future.”