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.
The airline was established in June 1993 and started operations on
October 26 ,
1993 as . It was renamed AirTran Airways in August 1994.
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 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 .
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 ,
2007 .
See Also: AirTran Airways destinations
currently flies to 55 destinations throughout the
United States .
AirTran operates one of the youngest
Boeing fleets in the industry. As of September 2007, AirTran has 137 aircraft in its fleet consisting of:
AirTran Airways Fleet Fact Sheet
AirTran takes delivery of 50th 737NG
As of September 2007, AirTran's average fleet age was 4.2 years old.
AirTran Fleet Age
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! .
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
Nacelle s 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 )
: ''See also:
Previous Incidents And Accidents As ValuJet ''
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.
