AirTran Airways

ATA Airlines (IATA: TZ, ICAO: AMT, and Callsign: AmTran) is an American low-cost and charter airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana. ATA operates scheduled passenger flights from a hub at Midway Airport in Chicago, Illinois, and charter flights across the globe.


History

Early years
ATA was established in August 1973 as American Trans Air (ATA) to provide aircraft for the Ambassadair travel club. Its first aircraft was a Boeing 720 named "Miss Indy", with a second Boeing 720 ("Spirit of Indiana") being added in 1978. ATA received its common-air carrier certificate in March 1981. Operations started as a charter carrier in 1981, with a fleet of eight Boeing 707's based in Indianapolis. Amtran, Inc., was formed by owner George Mikelsons in 1984, as the holding company for Ambassadair, ATA, and any future subsidiaries. The airline replaced the 707's with Boeing 727-100's in 1984, and added Lockheed L-1011's in 1985, and Boeing 757-200's in 1989. Scheduled service flights began in 1986 between Indianapolis and Fort Myers, Florida.

Expansion

ATA performed services for the US military during the 1991 Gulf War, transporting 108,000 military personnel on 494 missions for Operation Desert Storm. The 727-100's were replaced by Boeing 727-200's in 1993. By the mid-1990's, ATA operated a sizable hub in Chicago and offered scheduled services throughout continental USA, as well as flights to Hawaii and extensive military air charter contracts. ATA and Chicago Express launched ATA Connection, linking regional midwestern cities with ATA's Chicago operation; Chicago Express was purchased in 1999 and operated as a separate subsidiary. In 2000, ATA placed a large order for new Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 757-300 aircraft to expand its fleet for additional flights from Midway. That year, it also began scheduled flights to Mexico and was designated as a major carrier by the United States Department of Transportation.

The similarity of the American Trans Air and Airtran Airways names to those of other airlines caused confusion among customers and the general public. The airline had been known informally as ATA from early in its history, and from the mid-1990's on had been advertised as such, so in 2002 the name of the holding company was changed to ATA Holdings, Inc., and in 2003 the name of the airline itself was changed to ATA Airlines, Inc.

Restructuring

On 27 October 2004, ATA Holdings and its subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In December 2004, ATA entered into an agreement with Southwest Airlines to transfer six gates at Chicago Midway Airport and 27% of non-voting stock in exchange for a cash influx and codeshare agreement. In the beginning of 2005, the airline drastically reduced flights at its Indianapolis hub to only three destinations and centered scheduled flights at Chicago's Midway Airport in order to complement Southwest Airlines codeshare flights. ATA also focused on serving markets that are business oriented and do not have Southwest service, such as San Francisco, Dallas/Fort Worth, and New York. Additionally, ATA began offering point-to-point service not connecting to its Midway Hub, as to benefit other Southwest Airlines hubs, such as Las Vegas, Orlando, and Phoenix, with connections to non-destinations such as Denver and Hawaii. Southwest CEO Gary Kelly said that revenues were up nearly 20% due to the new codesharing agreement. In March 2005, ATA shut down its commuter airline service, Chicago Express, and later sold the assets to a private buyer. In attempt to reduce operating costs, the airline downsized its fleet by returning nine Boeing 737-800 and eight Boeing 757-300 aircraft, along with numerous Boeing 757-200 aircraft. In mid-2005, ATA entered an agreement to lease four ex-United Airlines Boeing 737-300 aircraft. Also planned was an agreement with Continental Airlines to trade ATA's remaining four 757-300 aircraft for four 737-700 aircraft. However, in early October 2005, ATA terminated these negotiations due to the Boeing machinists strike, which would delay the delivery of the aircraft. In October, ATA cancelled the lease for fourth 737-300. Three 737-300s entered service in late November.

In Septemeber 2005, ATA outsourced all its Heavy Maintenance Checks to overseas and domestic contractors.

On 13 October 2005, ATA announced the first round of many major service reductions, ending flights to Boston, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, and Newark. In addition, the planned addition of flights to Miami and Sarasota, Florida was cancelled. This ended Southwest codeshare service to Minneapolis and Newark. Two weeks later, on 1 November 2005, a second round of flight cuts were announced, including the suspension of scheduled service to Denver, and San Juan, and their headquarters and former hub Indianapolis. In a third round announced on 6 December 2005, ATA announced that it would discontinue service to three additional cities. ATA will suspend flights from Chicago's Midway Airport to San Francisco, Orlando, and Fort Myers, FL, in April 2006. Following these cancellations, ATA will have only 18 daily scheduled departures from its Chicago hub and 52 scheduled departures companywide. ATA will have only one gate at Midway, surrendering the balance to Southwest or the city.

On 17 November 2005, the company received court approval to sell its Ambassadair Travel Club division to Grueninger Cruises and Tours.

On 15 December 2005, ATA announced an expansion of its code-share agreement with Southwest Airlines. ATA Airlines will expand codesharing with Southwest Airlines between Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport and cities in the Southwest system that connect via Chicago's Midway Airport.

In January 2006, Matlin Patterson invested over 100 million in ATA taking the company private.

On 28 February 2006, ATA emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

On 2 April 2006, showing strength, ATA commenced service between Houston Hobby (KHOU) and LaGuardia Airport (KLGA). ATA had not added new service in almost two years.

As part of its continued plan of growth, ATA initiated new flights out of Oakland, CA, Ontario, CA and Hilo, HI on 28 April 2006. ATA, in order to now be able to feed passengers from its Southwest Airlines codeshare flights, moved its San Francisco International Airport operations to Oakland International Airport, introducing two daily flights to Honolulu, HI, a daily flight to Maui, HI, and a daily flight to Hilo, HI. ATA is the only airline that proivdes nonstop service between Hilo, HI and the mainland United States. The airline also added an Ontario, CA to Honolulu, HI daily, round trip flight, making it the only scheduled passenger carrier to operate that route.

AirTran Airways (IATA: FL, ICAO: TRS, and Callsign: Citrus) is a low-cost airline based in Orlando, Florida, USA and is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings. AirTran operates over 650 daily flights throughout the eastern USA and the Midwest, including over 200 daily departures from Atlanta. It is the world's largest Boeing 717 operator. Its main base is Orlando International Airport, with a principal hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The airline also operates smaller "focus city" operations at Philadelphia International Airport, Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Chicago Midway International Airport, and Akron/Canton (Akron-Canton Regional Airport).

History
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.

Following objections from Northwest Airlines to AirTran Airways's 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. ValuJet had never recovered from the May 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592. On September 24, 1997 the parent company became AirTran Holdings Inc, ValuJet was renamed AirTran Airways, and operations under all 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 as "open seating" in the airline industry), 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". They 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. 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, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, making it a coast-to-coast airline. In 2004, an engine cowling broke off in-flight from a Ryan International Airlines A320 operated as an AirTran Flight. AirTran came under fire after they maintained that it was not their aircraft and so it was not their responsibility because this was reminiscient of when ValuJet Airlines (now AirTran) executives testified that they outsourced maintenance, so the crash of ValuJet Flight 592 was not their fault.

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 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. In the spring of 2006, AirTran launched new service to White Plains, New York and seasonal service to Seattle, Washington. Additional non-stop routes will also be added between Chicago and Newark, Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth, Indianapolis and Los Angeles, Indianapolis and San Francisco, and Milwaukee and Baltimore. Due to high fuel prices, Airtran Airways will be discontinuing non-stop service between Flint and Las Vegas and Akron/Canton and Las Vegas. These flights may return if fuel prices drop.

In July 2006, it resumed nonstop service Tampa-Gulfport-Biloxi and inaugurated nonstop service Boston-Rochester.