Hey, PCL, I don't think anyone would call me illiterate, or accuse me of not being able to spell, so perhaps you could help me out a little. After reading your comment, I did a little internet research. Clearly, this wouldn't represent exhaustive reaseach, but my quick search of
www.sec.gov and Southwest's list of filings and other legal documents on its Investor Relations page tends to contradict your assertion.
On the SEC's website, the only results I could get were too recent, and primarily involved individuals investigated for insider trading with respect to the deal.
However, on Southwest's Investor Relations page, which goes back a lot further, a search using the keywords "AirTran merger" returned only 2 documents, with one of them simply a transcript of Gary Kelly in 2015 simply referring to "progress made merging AirTran's operations into Southwest's." The other, and probably more pertinent document, is a filing dated Feb 2011, which
does refer to "merging." It says that a newly-created
"subsidiary of Southwest will be merged with and into AirTran, with AirTran surviving as a wholly-owned
subsidiary of Southwest Airlines." Nowhere does it say that AirTran is to be merged with Southwest Airlines
itself.
On the other hand, there were
92 documents returned containing the exact phrase "AirTran acquisition," describing among other things, the intent, the price to be paid, and the actual closing of the
acquisition of AirTran, including filings with various governmental agencies.
Maybe you can show something different, but it sure sounds like an "acquisition" instead of a "merger" to me.
Bubba