History of AirTran Airways

AirTran Airways is an American low-cost airline. A subsidiary of the Dallas, Texas-based Southwest Airlines, AirTran operates over 1,000 daily flights, primarily in the eastern and midwestern United States. AirTran's principal hubs are Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, where it operates over 270 daily departures, and General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It maintains focus city operations at Baltimore-Washington

International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Orlando International Airport. AirTran's fleet consists of Boeing 717 aircraft, of which it is the largest operator, and Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

AirTran Airways traces its roots to the 1992 founding of ValuJet Airlines in Georgia, United States. The founders were 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 early 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 August 1995, the Department of Defense (DoD) rejected ValuJet's bid to fly military personnel citing serious deficiencies in ValuJet's quality assurance procedures and an accident rate 14 times higher than the United States' big airlines.

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 Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Atlanta field office sent a memo on February 14, 1996, to Washington, D.C., stating that "consideration should be given to the immediate FAR-121 rectification of this airline"--in other words, the FAA wanted ValuJet grounded. ValuJet planes made 15 emergency landings in 1994, 57 in 1995, and 57 from January through May 1996. In February the FAA ordered ValuJet to seek approval before adding any new aircraft or cities to its network, something the industry had not seen since deregulation in 1979. This attempt at removing ValuJet's certification was "lost in the maze at FAA" according to NTSB Chairman Jim Hall.

By this time, ValuJet's accident rate was fourteen times that of legacy carriers. On May 11, 1996, ValuJet suffered its highest-profile incident when its Flight 592, a DC-9 jetliner flying from Miami to Atlanta, plunged into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 aboard. After the Flight 592 crash, many of ValuJet's other cost-cutting practices came under scrutiny. It had allowed one plane to fly 140 times despite a leaky hydraulic system, and allowed another plane to fly 31 times with a malfunctioning weather radar. The resulting investigation revealed numerous systemic flaws, and on June 17, 1996, ValuJet was grounded by the FAA. On September 26, 1996, ValuJet resumed flying with 15 jets, down from 52 before the crash, after complying with all U.S. Department of Transportation and FAA requirements. On November 4, 1996, ValuJet announced that Joseph Corr, former CEO of Continental Airlines, would become CEO and President of the airline at a time when the airline was in serious trouble. It had lost $55 million since the crash of Flight 592.

After the large amount of negative publicity surrounding the Flight 592 incident, ValuJet suffered serious financial problems. On July 11, 1997, ValuJet announced it would merge with the much smaller Airways Corporation, parent of AirTran Airways. The merged company would retain the AirTran name, although ValuJet was the senior partner and nominal survivor of the merger. In November 1997, the company announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta to Orlando. On November 17, 1997, AirWays Corp. and ValuJet completed their merger, and the tarnished ValuJet name passed into aviation history.

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. 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 L. 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.

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 of 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.

On September 21, 2007, AirTran pilots, represented by the National Pilots Association, rejected the carrier's contract proposal. Two weeks earlier, the pilots voted to dump the union president and vice president.

On January 1, 2009, AirTran Airways removed nine Muslim passengers, including three children, from a flight and turned them over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after one of the men commented to another that they were sitting right next to the engines and wondered aloud where the safest place to sit on the plane was. Although the FBI subsequently cleared the passengers and called the incident a "misunderstanding," AirTran refused to seat the passengers on another flight, forcing them to purchase last minute tickets on another airline that had been secured with the FBI's assistance. A spokesman for AirTran initially defended the airline's actions and said they would not reimburse the passengers for the cost of the new tickets. Although the men had traditional beards and the women headscarves, AirTran denied that their actions were based on the passengers' appearance. The following day, after the incident received widespread media coverage, AirTran reversed its position and issued a public apology, adding that it would reimburse the passengers for the cost of their rebooked tickets.

AirTran Airways operates under a two-class configuration featuring Business Class and Economy Class. All seats feature live, on-demand XM Satellite Radio, as well as Gogo Inflight Internet. Business class includes rows 1–3 and coach begins with row 10; rows 4–9 are skipped for numbering purposes, and 13 is skipped due to superstition. There is at least one baby-changing station on every aircraft. Business class, inflight internet, SiriusXM Satellite Radio and GO Magazine are not available on flights operated by SkyWest Airlines. All Airtran Airways flights are served with a complimentary beverage service and small snack. All complimentary beverages offered are Coca-Cola products, and other beverages including juices, beer, and bottled water can be purchased in-flight