AirTran Airways is an American low-cost airline. A subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, AirTran operates over 750 daily flights, primarily in the eastern and midwestern United States. AirTran's principal hub is Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where it operates over 270 daily departures. AirTran Holdings is headquartered at Orlando International Airport, where AirTran also maintains a secondary hub. AirTran was often confused with the unrelated and now-defunct ATA Airlines, due to the similarity of their names, their comparable price points and the fact that they commonly shared focus cities such as Boston Logan Airport. AirTran is the world's largest Boeing 717-200 operator.
History
Early years
In 1992, the predecessor airline, ValuJet Airlines, was founded by airline industry veterans, including an executive group from the former Southern Airways and pilots, mechanics and flight attendants from the defunct Eastern Air Lines.
Created to fill the void at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after Eastern Air Lines' demise, ValuJet Airlines started with two former Delta Air Lines' DC-9 aircraft, and the first commercial flight occurred between Atlanta and Tampa on October 26, 1993. The airline was the first to launch ticketless travel in 1993.
In the spring of 1994, barely eight months after launching service between Atlanta and three Florida cities, the airline went public by listing its stock on the NASDAQ and trading under the ticker symbol VJET.
In late 1995 the airline placed an order with the then McDonnell Douglas Corporation to be the launch customer for the MD-95 aircraft (now known as the Boeing 717). Serving as the launch customer meant the airline would have significant input into the design of the aircraft, and ValuJet was the youngest airline ever to serve as a launch customer for an aircraft type.
At the end of 1995, ValuJet was named as the top company in the Georgia 100 as published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the airline posted high margins with a $67 million net profit on revenues of $367 million.
The original AirTran Airways, a Boeing 737 operator with service to/from Orlando, was founded by AirTran Corporation, the holding Company of Mesaba Airlines of Minneapolis, Minnesota, operating as a Northwest Airlink carrier with hubs in Minneapolis and Detroit. In 1994, AirTran Holdings purchased a start up 737 operator named Conquest Sun and renamed the airline AirTran Airways. Conquest Sun, similar to ValuJet, was an airline started by former Eastern Air Lines employees. The original AirTran Airways moved its headquarters to Orlando, Florida, and grew to 11 Boeing 737 aircraft serving 24 cities in the East and Midwest providing low-fare leisure travel to Orlando. In 1995, AirTran Airways was spun off by Mesaba and formed its own independent holding company named Airways Corporation.
On July 10, 1997, ValuJet, Inc., the holding company for ValuJet Airlines, Inc., announced plans to acquire Airways Corporation, Inc., the holding company for AirTran Airways, Inc. of Orlando, Florida. The deal was scheduled to close on November 17, 1997.
On September 24, 1997, ValuJet Airlines changed its name to AirTran Airlines. So, for a couple of months, the two holding companies, even though they had not yet merged, operated airlines with similar names – AirTran. ValuJet, Inc., operated AirTran Airlines with a hub in Atlanta and Airways, Inc., operated AirTran Airways with a hub in Orlando. Finally, on November 17, 1997, ValuJet, Inc., acquired Airways, Inc., and renamed the holding company, AirTran Holdings, Inc. In the summer of 1998, the two airlines merged onto the same FAA certificate and the AirTran Airways name survived. While the hub remained in Atlanta, the headquarters of the new entity was combined in Orlando, Florida, on January 28, 1998.
In January 1999, a new management team led by Joe Leonard, a veteran of Eastern Air Lines, and Robert Fornaro, of US Airways, took the reins at the airline. On August 15, 2001, the company's stock began trading under the ticker symbol AAI on the New York Stock Exchange. The airline grew to serve more than 56 cities coast-to-coast with more than 700 flights per day and over 9,000 Crew Members serving nearly 20 million passengers per year.
In November 2007, Bob Fornaro took over as CEO, as well as President. Joe Leonard remained Chairman of the Board of Directors until June, 2008. Upon his retirement, Fornaro then became Chairman, CEO and President.
Growth
On July 1, 2003, AirTran placed an order for 100 Boeing 737 aircraft. In October 2003, AirTran began services to Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport, and to San Francisco the following month.
On January 5, 2004 AirTran's last Douglas DC-9 was retired, leaving it with a fleet of more than 70 Boeing 717s. The first Boeing 737 entered AirTran's fleet in June 2004, ending the service by Ryan. Later in 2004, AirTran sought a major expansion at Chicago-Midway Airport by buying the leases to ATA Airlines 14 gates. Southwest Airlines made a higher bid for the gates, and AirTran lost the deal.
On May 23, 2006, AirTran accepted one of the last two Boeing 717s delivered in a ceremony with Midwest Airlines, who accepted the other 717.
New services
AirTran offers 100 channels of XM satellite radio as in-flight entertainment on board all its aircraft in both business class and coach. It used Elton John's face as a promotional tool for the new service. In June 2007, AirTran began charging passengers $6.00 to guarantee an aisle or window seat and $20 to book a roomier emergency exit row seat.
On May 12, 2009 AirTran announced they would install Wi-Fi on all of their planes by mid-summer 2009.
In November 2006, AirTran Airways partnered with Frontier Airlines, allowing frequent flyers to earn airline miles in either AirTran's A+ Rewards, or Frontier's EarlyReturns frequent flyer program. This is known as reciprocal earning (as opposed to reciprocal redemption). In addition the airlines will refer customers to each other when appropriate.
Destinations
Main article: AirTran Airways destinationsAirTran Airways serves 70 plus destinations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico with service to more Caribbean destinations expected to start in late 2009. (AirTran Airways Route Map: )
Fleet
AirTran operates the youngest Boeing fleets in the industry. As of June 30, 2009, AirTran has 138 aircrafts in its fleet consisting of:
As of August 2009, AirTran's average fleet age was 6.0 years.
Retired
- Airbus A320-200 operated by Ryan International Airlines
- Boeing 737-200
- McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
- CRJ-200 operated by Air Wisconsin
Expansion
In June 2005, AirTran announced plans to launch services from Atlanta and Tampa to Cancún, Mexico, though shelved the plans following the damage caused by Hurricane Wilma. On November 28, 2006, AirTran announced new daily nonstop service from Atlanta (ATL) to Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) which began on February 15, 2007. The new service to Phoenix resulted from an AirTran Airways' online survey which asked consumers, “Where do you want low fares next?”
On January 10, 2007, AirTran started service to Daytona Beach (DAB) and to Newburgh (SWF) using their Boeing 717 aircraft; both services since have been discontinued. Service to St. Louis began on May 8, 2007, and service to San Diego began on May 24, 2007. On February 22, 2007, AirTran announced new nonstops from their Atlanta hub (ATL) to Charleston, SC (CHS); five days later, on February 27, 2007, AirTran also announced the addition of new nonstops from Baltimore (BWI) and Orlando (MCO) to Portland, Maine (PWM).
Daily non-stop service between Atlanta and San Antonio began on June 7, 2008. On May 21, 2008, AirTran also added Burlington, VT with three daily flights to Baltimore-Washington. In September 2008, AirTran announced service to Columbus, OH (CMH) and Harrisburg, PA (MDT).
AirTran is building up operations in Milwaukee at General Mitchell International Airport. The airline is now trying to compete directly with rival Midwest Airlines after Midwest chose not to agree to AirTran's bid to purchase the airline. AirTran has said that Mitchell Airport will become the airline's next focus city. AirTran has been awarded two additional gates at General Mitchell International Airport which doubled their number of gates at the airport to 4. In April, 2009 they had increased to 6 gates.
Failed acquisition
In December 2006 Air Tran Holdings announced that it had been trying to acquire Midwest Air Group. See: AirTran Holdings .
On August 12, 2007, AirTran announced its attempt to purchase Midwest Airlines had expired, while TPG Capital, in partnership with Northwest Airlines, had entered into an agreement to purchase Midwest Airlines for an amount larger than the AirTran Airways proposal. However, on August 14, 2007, AirTran increased its offer to the equivalent of $16.25 a share, slightly more than the $16 a share from TPG Capital investors group. However, Midwest announced TPG would increase its offer to $17 per share and a defi
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