AirTran Airways

History

In 1992, the predecessor airline of AirTran, 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. ValuJet Airlines kept developing and was named as the top company in the famed Georgia 100 as published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the airline posted high margins.

The original AirTran Airways, a Boeing 737 operator with service to/from Orlando, was founded by AirTran Corporation. In 1994, AirTran Holdings purchased a start up 737 operator named Conquest Sun and renamed the airline AirTran Airways. In 1995, AirTran Airways was spun off by Mesaba – one member of Aitran Corporation, and formed its own independent holding company named Airways Corporation. In October 1997, ValuJet, Inc., the holding company for ValuJet Airlines, Inc., acquired Airways Corporation, Inc., the holding company for AirTran Airways, Inc. of Orlando, Florida. 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. AirTran Airways has grown into one of the largest and most profitable low-cost airlines in the industry, continuing to grow its route map. From 1004 to 2006, however, the airline has failed in the attempt to expand by acquiring Midwest Air Group.

By 2009 AirTran underwent major expansion in smaller cities such as Yeager Airport (Charleston, WV); Asheville Regional Airport, NC; and Harrisburg International Airport, PA or opening its second crew base at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, the same day they also announced that Milwaukee is officially their second hub, opening of their new System Operations Control Center at Orlando International Airport. On September 27, 2010, AirTran Holdings, Inc., the parent company of AirTran Airways, announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by Southwest Airlines

About the airline

AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Airlines, is an American low-cost airline headquartered in Orlando, Florida. AirTran's principal hubs are Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, Orlando International Airport, General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport. It has been ranked the number one low cost carrier in the Airline Quality Rating study for the past three years.

Main route

AirTran operates over 650 daily flights, primarily in the eastern and midwestern United States. Ít route also includes flights to Caribbean countries: Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Mexico. Its top-served cities are: Atlanta, Orlando, Milwaukee, baltimore-Washington, Fort Myers, Tampa, Indianapolis, Boston, New York and Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood.

Fleet

AirTran's fleet consists of 88 Boeing 717-200 aircraft and 52 Boeing 737-700 aircraft.