Expansion came at a price, as Wien was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy. Household Finance, controlling owners since 1979, then dumped its investment in the airline and sold the company to Wien's President, Jim J. Flood, in 1983. He shut down the airline, and on November 23, 1984, Wien was liquidated for profit. Noel's son, Merrill, said the end of his family's airline came when it "was bought by a corporate raider on a leveraged buyout and was liquidated for about twice what the stock was selling for. The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 made this possible." in an interview with Avweb.