MILWAUKEE - Midwest Airlines is grounding all 12 of their MD-80 planes, saying they use too much gas. When those planes stop flying, hundreds of pilots and flight attendants will also stop flying. This is a very big deal: the most significant shakeup since TPG Capital and Northwest Airlines took over Midwest back in February. To use one airline official’s words, "it's not going to be pretty." Those who give the best care in the air just got punched in the gut, though not exactly a sucker punch. "They've known that there's writing on the wall, so to speak,” Greg Uselmann with the pilot’s union said. Friday morning, the airline told its employees about plans to ground all 12 MD-80's, about 20 percent of its fleet. The older planes use too much gas, and with soaring fuel prices, Midwest says it can't make money flying them. "The industry is in a terrible position and we're doing everything we can to preserve as many jobs on our property as we can,” Uselmann said. Still, the announcement puts more than 100 MD-80 pilots and nearly 200 flight attendants’ jobs on the line. "I think it's too early to talk numbers in terms of the affect on employees, any employee group,” Midwest Airlines spokesperson Mike Brophy said. TODAY’S TMJ4’s Aaron Diamant: “But you can't re-absorb all those people." “There will be reductions, there's no question,” Brophy said. There is no solid timeline either, just that it will happen by this fall. While the airline tries to figure out when to ground the planes, the question becomes, what do you do with all the people who already have tickets on them? These are mainly leisure travelers. “It’s something we'll have to put up with. I don't think getting mad or frustrated is going to help,” Brophy said. No more MD-80's means no more non-stop flights from Milwaukee to places like Phoenix, L.A. and Las Vegas. The planes Midwest has left don't have the range. Midwest airlines Chairman Tim Hoeksema had this message for Midwest employees and customers: “It's going to be very painful. It’s going to change a lot of things in terms of size, but it’s not going to change who we are.” Click on the link under related content to see the message from Midwest Airlines CEO Tim Hoeksema.