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Southwest buys AirTran, grows even bigger
Mercury news ^ | 5/2/11 | David Koenig - ap

Posted on 05/02/2011 7:09:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge

DALLAS -- Southwest Airlines is looking more and more like the big airlines it loves to needle.

...

Now comes Southwest's boldest move, its $1 billion purchase of AirTran Airways, completed Monday. ..

By acquiring AirTran, Southwest increases passenger traffic by 25 percent. It gains AirTran's hub in Atlanta, .. It gains a toehold at Washington's Reagan National and adds gates at New York's LaGuardia,..

(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airtran; grows; southwest

1 posted on 05/02/2011 7:09:49 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
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To: NormsRevenge

I love Southwest and I hate Delta and flying into Atlanta. This is great news. Assuming anyone can afford to fly anywhere in another 6 months.


2 posted on 05/02/2011 7:21:53 PM PDT by FlJoePa ("Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won't taste good")
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To: NormsRevenge

I used to like Southwest Airlines. Not now
Just look at the Crony Capitalism Deal they got at Love Field
Reduces the number of gates from 32 to 20
Big rehab paid for by taxpayers
Tore down the Legends Airlines terminal to prevent competition
Limits to competition w American Airlines


3 posted on 05/02/2011 7:45:04 PM PDT by cowtowney
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To: NormsRevenge

I don’t go where they don’t fly. except if I go international or Hawaii.


4 posted on 05/02/2011 7:45:16 PM PDT by joelt
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To: FlJoePa

i’m flying SW to las vegas in 36 hours.
The last month has made me a little nervous, the last 24 hours a little more.


5 posted on 05/02/2011 7:45:31 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: NormsRevenge
Not familiar with AirTran. Does it fly to Transylvania?

Not sure I would want to take a Southwest flight across the Atlantic though--8 or 10 hours with nothing but a couple of 100-calorie snacks to eat.

6 posted on 05/02/2011 7:47:09 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: NormsRevenge

Sowthwest has a 100% 737 fleet.
supposedly cuts costs in maintenance.

I imagine Airtran has other type aircraft.


7 posted on 05/02/2011 7:52:39 PM PDT by mowowie
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To: mowowie
I loved AirTran. Saw this coming and I don't like it.
I used to go out of Balt/Wash or Dullas for a reasonable price and great service on AirTran.
Now I'm gonna get a rotten web site with Southwest reservations and a much higher price.

Will switch to Jet Blue when possible.

8 posted on 05/02/2011 7:53:11 PM PDT by AGreatPer (Voting for the crazy conservative gave us Ronald Reagan....Ann Coulter)
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To: FlJoePa

Got some great rates this weekend for flights in mid-June. Have to fly early morning or late night but is about $300 less for same itinerary than at Christmas. Really surprised me.


9 posted on 05/02/2011 8:00:29 PM PDT by Grams A (The Sun will rise in the East in the morning and God is still on his throne.)
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To: AGreatPer
"Will switch to Jet Blue when possible."

Great. Pick the airline that has George Soros as its lead investor why don't we, over a scrappy, innovative airline that's a monument to American can-do entrepreneurism.

[shakes head]
10 posted on 05/02/2011 8:21:50 PM PDT by RightOnTheLeftCoast (Obama: running for re-election in '12 or running for Mahdi now? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahdi])
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To: NormsRevenge

Not to mention EWR service.

Southwest somehow has one of the few viable airline business models. They also have a 40 year perfect safety record, something that they never advertise. Trillions of miles and not one passenger fatality, though one on the ground in Chicago.


11 posted on 05/02/2011 8:26:35 PM PDT by cicero2k
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To: mowowie
“Southwest has a 100% 737 fleet.
supposedly cuts costs in maintenance.”

Two airlines made it through the post 9/11 downturn in the Black, and without suffering financial meltdown like the other airlines. Southwest and Ryanair. Both have an all Boeing fleet,(737s) and both keep operating cost to a bare minimum.

12 posted on 05/02/2011 8:49:17 PM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: NormsRevenge

I love SW and fly with them all the time.


13 posted on 05/02/2011 8:59:56 PM PDT by Greystoke
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To: NormsRevenge

Cool. That means Southwest will be flying to the Quad Cities!


14 posted on 05/03/2011 5:29:13 AM PDT by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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