Whoa, Huge News: Southwest Airlines to Take Over AirTran

September 27, 2010 at 9:48 AM | by JetSetCD | Comments (4)

1.4 Billion Dollars. That's how much Southwest is paying out to take over fellow low-cost carrier AirTran, in a big announcement early this morning. The airline merger, which will eventually completely fold AirTran's airplanes, routes, staff and branding into the Southwest mold, "has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of each company."

Way to start a week! So here's what Southwest is getting out of the deal:

· Southwest is going international
Even though Southwest has over 500 planes on its own and a whole dumptruck full of routes, they haven't quite crossed the international line yet. AirTran already operates to "key near-international leisure markets in the Caribbean and Mexico," not to mention the prospects of adding a few to Canada. Southwest is going over the border, ya'll!

· Southwest is about to add a second type of airplane to their fleet
When you fly Southwest now, you are pretty much guaranteed the same experience as well as the same plane. Until now, Southwest has stuck with exclusively using 737s, but when they take over AirTran, they'll be getting more 737s along with AirTran's huge 717 fleet, some 86 just of those.

· In-Flight WiFi drama!
AirTran is one of the two airlines right now with fleet-wide inflight WiFi (the other is Virgin America). AirTran is connected with Gogo, and it's already comfortable in that. Southwest however only has a little more than 6 planes hooked up to in-flight WiFi, and it's with a totally different company—Row 44, the big Gogo competitor. So who will Southwest go with? Will they split the fleet between the two companies or what? We'll be watching this, of course.

· Atlanta is about to see a whole lot more Southwest
If you want to fly almost anywhere on AirTran, there's a huge chance you've got to first change in Atlanta. Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is the hub for the airline, and now that Southwest has their hands on it, prepare to see the red and orange SWA tail fins jetting to more places on the east coast.

· Southwest Airlines' 35,000 nationwide employees get joined by AirTran's 8,000 more
There's about to be a whole heck of a lot more Southwest pride out there. Texas is already full of "LUV," but with the addition of Atlanta, the new international routes, and the 8,000 AirTran crew coming over, more and more people are going to be "nuts about Southwest."

· Bags Fly Free!
The more Southwest flights there are, the more flight there are with your first two checked bags flying free. Wooo!!!

Rest assured that we'll continue to follow the news as it unfolds. We're excited to see what Southwest has up their sleeves in this merger, but also sad to see our first airline (read that story here) go away. And—omg—will Southwest keep the Harry Potter plane?! So many questions!

But hey, what do you think of the merger? Are you happy or sad to bid AirTran goodbye for a bigger Southwest? Let us know in the comments!

[Photos: Wikimedia, keetsa, Photoshop: Jaunted]

Comments (4)

Return to » Whoa, Huge News: Southwest Airlines to Take Over AirTran

Best part of this article? The awesome Photoshop job. Still looks better than the United-Continental mashup.

We worked REAL hard on that. Kidding. We love some bad PS work when the situation calls for it. Think United would hire us to work on their re-branding?

I am sooo upset by this news! As a frequent business traveler, it's so disappointing to hear my favorite airline will now be replaced by my least favorite. Goodbye expense-able $50 business class seat upgrades and hello no possible chance of any kind of upgrade ever (because they don't exist!) Oh, and don't forget the at-least-once-a-flight confusion over the cattle call ("You're in my seat! "Uh, no, that's your boarding number." "Oh, wait, what?") :(

I work at the airport as a ramp agent for a company that subs for Airtran in Fort Myers Fl. I would like to know how to get my foot in the door for Southwest, since Southwest is Union and we're not. Otherwise,I'll be getting laid off.

Jaunted

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