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| Founded | 30 January 1980[1] | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | 15 July 1981 (as Muse Air) | ||||||
| Ceased operations | 9 August 1987 (as TranStar) | ||||||
| Hubs | Dallas, Houston | ||||||
| Alliance | AirCal | ||||||
| Fleet size | 16 | ||||||
| Destinations | Texas, California, Florida, Louisiana, Nevada, Oklahoma | ||||||
| Headquarters | Houston, Texas | ||||||
| Key people | Michael Muse Lamar Muse Herb Kelleher | ||||||
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Muse Air was a domestic U.S. airline founded in 1980 by Michael Muse, a former CFO of Southwest Airlines, and his father Lamar Muse, the founding president of Southwest. Muse Air was notable for initially choosing to compete head-to-head against Southwest, thereby gaining the name "Revenge Air", given the circumstances under which the Muses departed Southwest. Muse Air also chose to be a non-smoking airline at a time when smoking was prevalent on commercial aircraft.
Southwest acquired Muse Air in 1985 and initially continued to operate it under the name TranStar Airlines. TranStar turned significantly unprofitable after it came under competitive attack from Frank Lorenzo's Continental Airlines, also based in Houston. This caused Southwest to shut down TranStar in summer 1987. Southwest CEO Herb Kelleher later said that continuing to operate Muse Air was his greatest management mistake.