Friday, May 13, 2011

Southwest completes Air Tran Acquisition

While travelers in Atlanta will not see the ubiquitous colors of the Southwest 737's anytime soon, the airline sealed the deal to buy Air Tran, the second largest carrier in the Atlanta market with over 200 flights a day.

Southwest plans to keep Air Tran as a separate carrier at least through the end of the year and may be longer.

Delta said it "welcomed" the opportunity to compete with Southwest on its home turf.

Air Tran's network complements Southwest's as it adds markets not served or under-served by Southwest. It remains to be seen what strategy Southwest has as the two airlines have different business models. Primarily, in addition to the difference in baggage fee policy, Southwest does not assign seats while Air Tran does.

www.premieretravel.com

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