Airline's ship comes in with its new captain.

• Position: Midway Airlines CEO Robert Ferguson

Here's what $22 million buys in today's airline industry:

Two-thirds of a Boeing 737.

Or control of Midway Airlines, a new CEO and directors. That's what Cary billionaire James Goodnight, business partner John Sall and Chicago financier Sam Zell got in a deal in February. They hope it will make them money and make sure the 1,000-employee airline, based in Durham, stays there.

When the midwinter shuffle was done, the Goodnight team held 70% of Midway; Zell, 27%; and a mystery investor, 3%. Goodnight's fondness for Midway - standard leather seats and all - is no secret. Estimated by Forbes to be worth $2 billion, the publicity-shy founder of SAS Institute Inc. says via a spokesman that the deal "will renew the financial stability of the airline."

After replacing American Airlines' failed hub at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in March 1995, Midway lost $5.8 million through the third quarter 1996. It suffered from a shortage of capital, says new Chairman and CEO Robert Ferguson. "We even lacked an inventory of spare parts or spare plane." He knows about hard knocks at airlines. He left as CEO of Continental Airlines in 1994 after its low-fare strategy failed.

Ferguson clearly brings what...