Air tran

AirTran Airways is a subsidiary company of AirTran Holdings and a combination of several similar airline companies. AirTran Airways is a low-fare airline catering for leisure and business travelers alike.

AirtTran Airways was originally founded by AirTran Corporation, which is the holding Company of Mesaba Airlines of Minneapolis and Detroit.

However in 1994, AirTran Holdings acquired a start up 737 operator known at that time as Conquest Sun and renamed it to AirTran Airways. Conquest Sun Airline was founded by the former Eastern Air Lines employees.

AirTran Airways then moved its headquarters to Orlando, Florida, and added 11 Boeing 737 aircraft to its fleet serving 24 cities in the east and Midwest to provide low-fare leisure travel to Orlando. A year later, Mesaba Airlines spun off AirTran Airways to form its own independent holding company named as Airways Corporation.

On July 10, 1997, ValuJet Incorporation, which was the holding company for ValuJet Airlines, announced its plans to acquire Airways Corporation (airtranairways. com).

The two companies were supposed to merge on November 17, 1997. ValueJet Airlines changed its name to AirTran Airlines on September 24, 1997 even before the merger formally took place. So for a period of two months, the two holding companies operated their companies with similar names, i. e. AirTran.

ValueJet operated the AirTran Airlines with a hub in Atlanta, while AirTran Airways operated with a hub in Orlando. The two companies later went on to merge on November 17, 1997, and acquired company was renamed as AirTran Holdings Incorporation. In 1998, the two companies merged onto the same federal aviation agency certificate and the AirTran Airways name survived.

In January 1999, AirTran Airways saw a change in its management team and the new management team led by Joe Leonard, previous employee of Easter Airlines, and Bob Fornaro, of US Airways, took over the chare of airline’s operations.

Joe Leonardo, working as a chairman and chief executive officer for AirTran Airways mainly focused on improving the operating efficiencies of the airline, while the new chief operating officer and President, Bob Fornaro, managed to build a sustainable route network which believed to have increased the of the Atlanta hub of AirTran Airways.

In August 2001, the company was listed in the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AAI. (airtran. com)

The change of management worked well for the airline as it grew rapidly under Leonard and Fornaro’s leadership. The airline has transformed itself into a very strong competitor operating the latest all Boeing fleet in the country.

The chief operating officer and President of AirTran Airways, Bob Fornaro became the chief executive officer after Joe Leonard vacated the position and worked a chairman of the board of directors until June, 2008. Upon Leonard’s retirement as a chairman, Fornaro took over the charge as chairman of the board while he also remained a president and chief executive officer of AirTran Airways.

Bob Fornaro proved to be a successful leader for AirTran Airways and under his leadership; the airline has grown into one of the largest and most profitable companies in the aviation industry. The company expanded its operations to more than sixty cities of United States, as well as flights to Caribbean.

AirTran Airways currently operates more than seven hundred flights per day and employs more than eight thousand crew members. Apart from growing its route map, AirTrans has also been focusing on adding value to the other services it offers to its customers.

The company became the first airline in the country to outfit all of its planes with Wi-Fi service in 2009. The airline received the prestigious market leadership award from Air Transport World in 2010, while it also won the to top spot for low cost carriers in the coveted Airline Quality Rating study conducted in 2008 (airtran. com, n. d.).

AirTran Airways currently has the most sophisticated and modern aircrafts in its fleet which are equipped with the latest technology. AirTran Airways’ aircraft Boeing 717 is one of the most impressive aircraft in the fleet. It is believed to be the most modern and comfortable aircraft in the sky today.

The 717 aircraft has got the modern and luxurious interior which provides the comfort to the passengers. The aircraft’s stat-of-the-art amenities are designed to ensure that the complete passenger comfort.

Some of the aircraft’s features are:

·         Gogo® In-flight Internet on every plane

·         Free XM Satellite Radio® at every seat

·         18 percent increased capacity with EasyFit overhead storage bins (same storage capacity per person as Boeing’s 747 aircraft)

·         100 percent fresh air flowing throughout the cabin

·         117 seats in mixed class configuration – 12 Business Class, 105 coach

·         Three-by-two coach class seating, reducing the number of middle seats

·         Three modern lavatories – one in the forward cabin and two in the rear

·         At least one baby-changing station

·         Moveable armrests on 85 percent of aisle seats for passengers with special needs

·         A curtain closing off the rear lavatory for passengers with special needs

Being one of the leading domestic airlines in the country, AirTran realizes that it owes certain duties to the community at large. AirTran is always willing to serve and contribute to the worth causes and fundraising events that are held for the social well being of the community.

The Airline supports number of charities and also operates numerous projects which are aimed at improving the lives of the less privileged people.