AirTran Airways
| File:AirTran Airways Logo.svg | |||||||
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| Founded | 1993 | ||||||
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| Hubs | Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport | ||||||
| Secondary hubs | Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport Orlando International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | Akron-Canton Regional Airport Chicago Midway International Airport Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport General Mitchell International Airport Indianapolis International Airport McCarran International Airport Southwest Florida International Airport Tampa International Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | A+ Rewards | ||||||
| Fleet size | 137 | ||||||
| Destinations | 56 | ||||||
| Parent company | AirTran Holdings | ||||||
| Headquarters | Orlando, Florida | ||||||
| Key people | Joe Leonard (Chairman) Robert Fornaro (CEO) Stan Gadek (CFO) | ||||||
| Website | http://www.airtran.com | ||||||
AirTran Airways is a low-cost airline that is a Delaware corporation with headquarters in Orlando, Florida, USA and is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings. AirTran operates over 750 daily flights throughout the eastern USA and the Midwest, including over 270 daily departures from Atlanta. It is the world's largest Boeing 717 operator. AirTran's principal hub is at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and the airline's parent company, AirTran Holdings, is headquartered at Orlando International Airport, where AirTran also maintains a secondary hub.
History
 | This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. |
The airline was established in June 1993 and started operations on October 26, 1993 as Conquest Sun Airlines. It was renamed AirTran Airways in August 1994. At the time, AirTran had a similar name to American Trans Air (now ATA) and this led to a confusion over branding.
Following objections from Northwest Airlines to AirTran Airways' entry into the jet carrier business, its parent company signed an agreement with Northwest for the spin-off to shareholders of the non-airline businesses. They became part of a new holding company, AirWays Corporation, which also owned Mesaba Airlines.
In July 1997, AirWays Corporation announced a merger with ValuJet Airlines. In one of the U.S. airline industry's first reverse mergers, ValuJet was re-named AirTran Airways in 1997. This was done because the firm's public image never recovered from the crash of ValuJet Flight 592. On September 24, 1997 the parent company became AirTran Holdings Inc, and operations under new management began on September 1, 1998.
In October 1997, AirTran began assigning seats on its planes. AirTran has previously offered first come, first served, onboard seating (known by passengers as "the cattle call"), a practice popular with high-frequency, low-fare carriers (notably Southwest Airlines). The next month they added Business Class seats on every flight. Previously all flights had been in an all-coach (all-economy class) configuration. The old routes from Orlando by AirTran were systematically ended following the merger with ValuJet Airlines to focus on Atlanta. In March 1998, AirTran began a frequent flier program called A+ Rewards. In June 1998, Entrepreneur Magazine gave the airline its 1998 award for "Best Domestic Low-Fare Airline". The airline also won this award in 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2005. In July 1998, AirTran reported its first profitable quarter since early 1996.
On September 24, 1999 AirTran Airways became the first airline in the world to take delivery of the Boeing 717; it entered service on October 12, 1999. On December 12, 2000, AirTran launched services from Atlanta to its first international destination, Grand Bahama Island.
Following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, AirTran reduced its flight schedule by 20%. However, on October 7, 2001, AirTran returned to its normal schedule. The airline also took temporary concessions from several employee groups, and restored pay 45 days later. On October 15, 2001, AirTran became the first airline in the nation to reinforce the cockpit doors on all its aircraft, although with one of the smallest fleets of any US airlines and a much smaller service area, this was a greatly simplified task by comparison. In November 2002, AirTran entered into an agreement with Air Wisconsin to provide regional jet service on some AirTran routes to free up Boeing 717 aircraft, a service called AirTran JetConnect. This agreement was terminated in mid-2004.
In June 2003, AirTran began new services operated by Ryan International Airlines to Denver, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles using Ryan International Airbus A320s painted in Air Tran livery, making it a coast-to-coast airline.
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.
AirTran recently completed the process of installing in-flight entertainment onboard all its aircraft in both business class and coach. AirTran Airways features over 100 channels of XM satellite radio and has used Elton John's face as a promotional tool for the new service.
In 2004, AirTran sought a major expansion at Chicago-Midway Airport by buying the leases to ATA Airlines 14 gates. However, Southwest Airlines made a higher bid for the gates, and AirTran lost the deal. AirTran was willing to pay $90 million for the gates.
In June 2005, AirTran announced plans to launch services from Atlanta and Tampa to Cancún, Mexico, its second international destination, beginning in December. However, following the damage caused by Hurricane Wilma, the service has been shelved. By January 2007, AirTran's newest destination was Newburgh, New York, along with Westchester county airport, bringing new service to the Hudson Valley.
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. With the closure of the assembly line in Long Beach, California, this marks the end of commercial aircraft final assembly in California and the closure of the former Douglas commercial jet assembly facility. Large military jets are still produced in Long Beach, but it is expected to end in a few years when the C-17 production ends.
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.
On November 28, 2006, AirTran announced new daily nonstop service from Atlanta (ATL) to Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX) to begin on February 15, 2007. The new service to Phoenix comes as a result of AirTran Airways' recent online survey that asked consumers, “Where do you want low fares next?” Initiated late last month, AirTran Airways dedicated a portion of its web site to the survey where consumers could log on and vote for the airline's next destination. Phoenix ultimately emerged as AirTran Airways' next destination.
In December of 2006 Air Tran Holdings announced that it had been trying to acquire Midwest Air Group. The details on this acquisition are in the AirTran Holdings article.
On January 10, 2007, AirTran started service to Daytona Beach (DAB) and to Newburgh (SWF) utilizing their Boeing 717 aircraft. Ground handling is provided by Air Wisconsin, which also handles United Express/Mesa Airlines.
On January 23, 2007, AirTran announced new nonstops from their Atlanta hub (ATL) to St. Louis (STL) and San Diego (SAN). 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), which began on May 24, 2007. 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), which began on June 7, 2007.
Starting in June 2007, AirTran began charging passengers $7.50 to guarantee an aisle or window seat and $20 to book a roomier emergency exit row seat.[1]
On July 16, 2007, AirTran Airways announced it would discontinue service to Grand Bahama Island on September 5, 2007. AirTran was operating at a loss to this destination and was unable to renegotiate a subsidy through the Ministry of Tourism. As a result, AirTran Airways is allowing customers with reservations past the end date to receive a full refund.
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.[2] However, Midwest announced TPG would increase its offer to $17 per share and a definitive agreement had been reached late on August 16, 2007.[3]
Recently, AirTran has shifted its attention to building up their operations 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. [citation needed]
On September 21, 2007, AirTran pilots, represented by the National Pilots Association, rejected the carrier's contract proposal that would have raised a captain's pay to $160,000. Two weeks earlier, the pilots voted to dump the union president and vice president.[4]
AirTran has just recently put an offer in to Mitchell Airport to double their number of gates at the airport from 2 to 4.[5] The Milwaukee County Board Committee said that it will back AirTran for the additional gates. The full County Board will consider the expansion Oct. 29. [6] AirTran has said that they plan to operate six to eight flights out of each gate by next year, a total of 32 flights from the airport. The board has voted, and AirTran has moved to four gates in the C Concourse at Mitchell Airport.[7]
Destinations
AirTran Airways currently flies to 55 destinations throughout Puerto Rico and the United States. Upcoming schedule changes will increase its destination count to 56 when the airline begins service to San Juan, Puerto Rico on March 5, 2008.
Fleet
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Baltimore-Washington International Airport
AirTran operates one of the youngest Boeing fleets in the industry. As of November 2007, AirTran has 137 aircraft in its fleet consisting of:[8]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers (Business/Economy) |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boeing 717-200 | 87 | 117 (12/105) | Launch customer Largest Boeing 717 fleet of any airline Fleet includes First & Last 717 ever built |
| Boeing 737-700 | 50 (70 orders) |
137 (12/125) |
As of November 2007, AirTran's average fleet age was 4.4 years old.[10]
Cabin
AirTran Airways operates under a two-class configuration with Business Class and the main cabin. All seats feature live, on-demand XM Satellite Radio. AirTran serves snacks and Coca-Cola products. In the main cabin, alcoholic beverages can be purchased for a nominal fee, where in Business Class they are complimentary. AirTran is a cashless airline and only accepts credit and debit cards for onboard purchases. All passengers are given a copy in their seat pocket of AirTran's magazine, Go!.
Livery
AirTran's current livery is primarily white, with teal on the ventral side. The sections are divided by parallel red and blue stripes, which runs roughly horizontal at the front, and starts to curve upward at the wings until it reaches the top side of the plane at the back of the vertical stabilizer. The nacelles in the current livery are royal blue, with "airtran.com" written in white sans-serif font. The logo version of "AirTran" is written toward the front on either side in teal above the passenger windows, and the vertical stabilizer is teal with a prominent white cursive "A", just like the beginning of the logo. Unlike previous liveries, the 737 nacelles are also painted. (737: N279AT, 717: N892AT)
Many planes still carry the previous livery, which has a completely tan front divided from a completely teal rear by an oblique ring of parallel red and blue stripes just behind the wings. The livery coincided with the acquisition of ValuJet, and applied to all of ValuJet's DC-9s. The nacelles on the DC-9 are also teal in this livery, while the nacelles on the 737 went unpainted. The 717s, when introduced, received a paint scheme identical in pattern to the DC-9s. (737: N737Q, 717: N978AT, DC-9: N902VJ, A320: N941LF)
The original livery was primarily white and green on the dorsal side, and blue on the ventral side, with a red stripe roughly horizontal between. The nacelles in this livery went unpainted. No 717 or DC-9 was ever painted in the original livery. (737: N467AT)
Incidents and accidents
Although ValuJet, which was bought out by AirTran, is infamous for the ValuJet Flight 592 disaster, AirTran itself has not yet suffered an accident that has led to loss of life.
| Flight | Date | Aircraft | Location | Description | Injuries | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fatal | Serious | Minor | |||||
| AirTran Airways 867 Summary |
November 1, 1998 | Boeing 737-200 | Atlanta, GA | Lost control and skidded off of the runway while landing, with main landing gear in a drainage ditch and its empennage extending over the taxiway. The nose gear was folded back into the electrical/electronic compartment and turned 90 degrees from its normal, extended position. The cause was an improperly repaired hydraulic line leak, due to inexperienced mechanics from ValuJet. | 13 | ||
| AirTran Airways 913 Summary |
August 8, 2000 | Douglas DC-9-32 | Greensboro, NC | Executed an emergency landing due to an in-flight fire and smoke in the cockpit. | 13 | ||
| AirTran Airways 956 Summary |
November 29, 2000 | Douglas DC-9-32 | Atlanta, GA | Executed an emergency landing shortly after takeoff, due to an electrical fire that caused smoke in the forward cabin. | 13 | ||
| AirTran Airways 356 Summary |
March 26, 2003 | Boeing 717-200 | Flushing, New York, NY | Experienced an electrical fire. | 1 | 22 | |
| AirTran Airways Summary |
March 5, 2004 | Boeing 717-200 | Atlanta, GA | Total electrical system failure | 5 | ||
References
- ^ http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/airtran-offers-its-best-seats-for-price.html?id=2433020
- ^ AirTran boosts bid for Midwest Air
- ^ Midwest announces agreement with TPG. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, August 16, 2007.
- ^ http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/delta/stories/2007/09/21/airtran_0922.html
- ^ http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674191
- ^ http://www.jsonline.com/watch/?watch=1&date=10/17/2007&id=30566
- ^ http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2007/10/29/daily43.html
- ^ AirTran Airways Fleet Fact Sheet
- ^ AirTran takes delivery of 50th 737NG
- ^ AirTran Fleet Age