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March
1, 1996
Value Jet was a fast growing phenomena from 1994 until the deadly
Everglades crash in 1996. The airline was immediately grounded, not resuming
service for 2 months. The crash called into question the safety of all low-cost
carriers. Many industry experts didn’t expect the airline to survive.
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October 1, 1997
Orlando based Air Tran Airways successfully merged with Atlanta
based Value Jet. The combined entities became known as Air Tran Airlines.
Until merged operations began, both Air Tran’s operated side by side.
In 1999-2000, Air Tran began service with Boeing 717-200. The once near
dead airline was prospering in the face of the 2001-03 industry crisis.
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 January
5, 1999
1999 marked the first deliveries of the Boeing 717 (formerly McDonnell
Douglas MD-95) which would replace the aged fleet of Douglas DC-9 Series
30s. Air Tran became the words largest operator of this marvelous, albeit
short-lived airplane.
Special Thanks to: Chris
Cummings chris@irisreg.com |
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April 1, 2003
Air Tran continues to perform strongly, along with Southwest and
Virgin, during the ongoing airline industry crisis. |
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November 11, 2003
Air Tran became a transcon carrier in late 2003 when it inagurated
service first to Los Angles, then Las Vegas and San Francisco/Oakland. Currently
the airline wet leases, A-320s from Ryan International Airlines for the
transcon routes to and from Atlanta. With the range limitations of the 717
and the uncertainty of the program, Air Tran has ordered many 737-700s -
the equipment of choice for LCC (low cost carriers). Ironically, Air Tran
originally operated Boeing 737-200s prior to the takeover of Value Jet. |
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March 1, 2004
Air Tran's successful low cost march across the U.S. continued
in early 2004 with an invasion into the turf of America West and Southwest
in Las Vegas. |
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July 1, 2004
By 2004, Air Tran had done the unthinkable. It had successfully
penetrated Delta's foretress Atlanta hub, becoming the airports #2 airline.
The upstart, once given up for dead, had itself pushed Delta to the brink.
Also in this year, Air Tran began to take deliveries of the first of 100
ordered Boeing 737-700s and also began installing XM Satellite Radio on
board-a first!
Special Thanks to: Chris
Cummings chris@irisreg.com
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