Southwest to buy AirTran...

[In The Wind]

It's ATA

 

[Moustache]

We can do some damage with just 2 gates!

80 flights/day, $450 profit.

 

[mach zero]

It's ATA

If I was a betting man I would put my money on ATA. That's why I'm watching this one real close. It would not surprise me in the least.

 

[HalinTexas]

All I know from the ATA perspective is that something's up. Lot's of individuals being shown the door around here lately. Mgt. has said sched. serv. is for sale and that HI is losing money. The individual that said that is now retiring and his position is not being refilled, but assumed by someone else higher up.

I'm not saying it's WN, but if you want Int'l ops. on the cheap, we're the way to do it.

 

[Kharma Police]

All I know from the ATA perspective is that something's up. Lot's of individuals being shown the door around here lately. Mgt. has said sched. serv. is for sale and that HI is losing money. The individual that said that is now retiring and his position is not being refilled, but assumed by someone else higher up.

I'm not saying it's WN, but if you want Int'l ops. on the cheap, we're the way to do it.

Maybe AirTran will buy you to get the ATA gates in Midway.

 

[Bill Nelson]

Maybe AirTran will buy you to get the ATA gates in Midway.

Both of them?

 

[Whataburger]

It's ATA

The int'l certification and all that stuff would be good, but there would be no planes to fly the routes. There is no way in the world that SWA (one plane type) would take on a company with ump-teen plane types. Many of those planes which are limping many years past their prime. 737 to HI and leave the apu running? Nope. ATA is a plausible means to an end but there will have to be more pieces added to this puzzle.
As I stated before, what we do when the consolidation flood gates open will blindside all of us.

 

[Mea25000]

Hopefully SWA will buy ATA and AAI that would be perfect!

 

[Whine Lover]

Whataburger,

It seems that the "scheduled service" portion of ATA is for sale.

It would be very easy to sell ATA with only the 737's and the Operating Certificate to SWA. The DC-10's 757's would then be fragmented off to World/NAA via GAL.

This would allow the codeshare to continue and expand, and eventually as SWA added ETOPS to it's certificate they could merge the two per some sort of arrangement with SWAPA.

I don't necessarily care to see that happen...but I think it is a strong possibility.

YKW

P.S. - Just read your profile and note that you flew the J3 with 85 hp. Awesome. I flew one for 2 whole hours, but it was only a 65hp ship. I, however, got my multi in an Apache, and I too proudly note that it was "The Geronimo" conversion with the BIG engines. Dam straight... yeah,booooy.

 

[atafan]

Gary Ellmer, Sr. Vice President and Chief Operating officer of ATA Airlines retired yesterday.

Numerous members of the ATA management including the charter department have been shown the door this last week. I expect to see our widebodies transferred to the other GAL subsidiaries soon. This, IMHO, is the pruning of ATA Airlines for the sale to SWA.

Of course, I have never been right trying to guess the outcome of airlines.

 

[airline#5]

What about the ATA furloughees, they gonna get numbers too? Any thoughts considering we took the fall with the whole ATA/SWA thing?

 

[slaquer5]

What about the ATA furloughees, they gonna get numbers too? Any thoughts considering we took the fall with the whole ATA/SWA thing?

I hope so, I would be pissed if some are just cut loose. JMO

 

[HalinTexas]

If SWA buys ATA my bet is that the B757's will go with it.

You can't dominate the world with a B737. It's a lousy ETOPS airplane, no matter the series number. The real money in the HI flying is freight as well as pax. The B737 sucks and the B757 is great for that.

As far as the furloughees? Who knows. That's largely up to the purchaser, I guess.

Another thing to consider. If it is SWA, will they take pilots that don't have the B737 type or 1000 TPIC? We have both. We B737 captains, new ones, that don't have the time, yet.

 

[atpcliff]

Hi!

How is the 737-800/900 as far as ETOPS?

cliff
MKE

 

[HalinTexas]

Hi!

How is the 737-800/900 as far as ETOPS?

cliff
MKE

Same cr@p. You have to run the APU the entire time you're "overwater." It doesn't have the payload or range the B757 does. It's also a little bit slower at M.79 campared to M.80-.81.


ATA's B737's frequently leave the mainland within 100 lbs. of MGTOW. To leave OGG or LIH for the mainland, during the warmer months, we have to use maxblast, flaps 25, all the wind, occasionally the alt. corrections and/or bleeds off T/O. And we still can be limited by payload! The B757 does it with relative ease. This largely due to the extra fuel we must carry for ETOPS Critical Fuel Scenarios and APU usage for 4-5 hours.

 

[LXApilot]

Somebody had this pegged over 2 years ago

 

[GuppyFlyer]

WOW! Great necro-post!

 

[RedDogC130]

Kind of interesting going back and reading what people thought back then. Lear had some interesting thing to say and pcl was pissed about this back then also

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[PCL_128]

Kind of interesting going back and reading what people thought back then. Lear had some interesting thing to say and pcl was pissed about this back then also

Eh, I would say I've mellowed on the idea. Certainly wouldn't have been my first choice, but I do think the combined company will be a powerhouse, and all pilots from both sides will be better off combined than separate. So no, I'm not pissed. I just hope everyone learns to get along after the SLI dust settles. No one needs another USAirways situation.

 

[Bill Nelson]

No one needs another USAirways situation.

And half of us don't need another Muse Air. Not my half thank goodness.