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Airtran Southwest Airlines

February 11, 2012 by · Comments Off on Airtran Southwest Airlines 

Airtran Southwest Airlines, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution , Q: What flights is Southwest launching from Atlanta?

A: Southwest launches its first flights from Atlanta Feb. 12 with routes to Austin, Baltimore/Washington, Chicago, Denver and Houston Hobby. Then in March it will begin flying to Las Vegas and Phoenix, in June to Los Angeles and in August to Norfolk, Louisville and Seattle/Tacoma.

Q: How is Southwest any different from Delta Air Lines or AirTran Airways?

A: Southwest has open seating, meaning it does not give travelers seat assignments. It has an unusual boarding system, allowing you a place in line to board the plane based primarily on how early you check in for your flight. It does not charge fees for the first and second checked bags, and does not charge change fees. Southwest also doesn’t sell its flights through websites like Travelocity and Orbitz, choosing to sell its fares only through its own website.

Q: What will happen to AirTran flights?

A: AirTran will continue flying in some form for a couple of years, as Southwest gradually converts AirTran planes into the Southwest fleet. You can still buy tickets on AirTran through AirTran’s website, you can still check in for AirTran flights at AirTran ticket counters and fly on AirTran planes. Southwest acquired AirTran last year, is operating it as a subsidiary and expects to get a single operating certificate from the federal government in March, giving it clearance to combine the two airlines and begin in earnest the process of converting AirTran’s flight operations into Southwest over the next couple of years. Seattle will be the first AirTran operation that Southwest will fully convert to Southwest service, effective in August.

Q: Is Southwest discontinuing any of AirTran’s flights from Atlanta?

A: Yes, Southwest has announced it is discontinuing AirTran’s flights from Atlanta to White Plains, N.Y.; Sarasota, Fla.; Atlantic City, N.J.; Newport News, Va.; Dulles International in Washington, D.C.; and Bloomington/Normal in Illinois.

Q: How big is Southwest in Atlanta versus AirTran and Delta?

A: With Southwest’s launch of flights Feb.12 in Atlanta, it will operate 15 daily flights from Hartsfield-Jackson. AirTran operates roughly 170, while Delta operates nearly 1,000. The number of AirTran flights will gradually decline over the next couple of years as Southwest gradually takes over its service.

Q: What happens to AirTran’s business class seating?

A: Southwest plans to eventually eliminate AirTran’s business class seating as it converts the planes to Southwest’s all-coach class system.

Q: What about AirTran’s assigned seating?

A: Southwest does not offer assigned seating and plans to discontinue AirTran’s assigned seating as it transitions to Southwest service.

Q: What happens to AirTran frequent flier credits?

A: Southwest plans to merge AirTran’s A+ rewards members into its Rapid Rewards frequent flier program, but it has not disclosed how it will convert AirTran members’ credits into the Southwest program.

Q: Will I still have to pay AirTran’s checked baggage fees?

A: Since Southwest does not charge fees for the first and second checked bags, it has said it plans to eliminate AirTran’s bag fees. It has not said exactly when, however.

Airtran Southwest Airlines

July 9, 2011 by · Comments Off on Airtran Southwest Airlines 

Airtran Southwest AirlinesAirtran Southwest Airlines, Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) announced today the results of the traffic in June 2011 from Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways. AirTran Airways became a wholly owned subsidiary of Southwest Airlines Co. (“Company”) on May 2, 2011. For comparability purposes, the Company is offering traffic-combined results of Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways for periods prior to the date of acquisition. See the tables that accompany the individual and combined results.

The company flew passenger 9600000000 miles (RPMs) in June 2011, compared with 9.0 billion RPMs flown combined in June 2010, an increase of 7.5 percent. Available seat mile (ASM) increased 6.2 percent to $ 11.5 million in June 2010-combined level of $ 10.8 million. The load factor in June 2011 was 83.9 percent, compared to the combined load factor of 82.8 percent in June 2010.

By June 2011, revenue from Southwest Airlines passengers per ASM (exclusive of AirTran Airways) is estimated to have increased by approximately five percent compared with June 2010.

For the second quarter of 2011, the company flew 27.6 billion RPMs combined, compared to 25.4 billion RPMs flown combined in the same period in 2010, an increase of 8.8 percent. The combination of the second quarter of 2011 increased 6.0 percent to 33.6 ASM million, compared to the combined level of $ 31.7 million for the same period in 2010. The combination of the second quarter 2011 load factor was 82.2 percent, compared with the combined load factor of 80.1 percent over the same period in 2010.

For the first half of 2011, the company flew 51.4 billion RPMs combined, compared to 46.9 billion RPMs flown combined during the same period in 2010, an increase of 9.4 percent. The combination of years from the date of ASM increased 6.5 percent to $ 63.9 million in 2011 compared to the combined level of 60.0 million for the same period in 2010. The combination of year-to-date load factor was 80.4 percent, compared to the combined load factor of 78.2 percent over the same period in 2010.

This release, as well as past news releases on Southwest Airlines Co., is available online at southwest.com.

Southwest Airlines Co.
Preliminary data from combined traffic COMPARATIVE

June SECOND QUARTER TO DATE

2011 2010 2011 2010 CHANGE CHANGE 2011 2010 CHANGE

Barnstorming 9893940 9573930 28826848 27997507 3.3% 54,408,243 3.0% 52,308,579 4.0%

Passengers Boarded 12,249,428 11,883,202 35,559,232 34,084,746 3.1% 66,753,484 4.3% 63,298,260 5.5%

Revenue passenger miles (000) 9630540 8958462 27646263 25403034 8.8% 51,361,693 7.5% 46,945,728 9.4%

Available Seat Mile (000) 11485357 31722856 10817312 33639005 6.0% 63,902,550 6.2% 60,015,014 6.5%

The load factor 82.8% 83.9% 1.1 points. 80.1% 82.2% 2.1 points. 78.2% 80.4% 2.2 points.

Average length of distance 973 936 959 907 5.7% 4.0% 5.2% 944 897

Airline Travel 122 783 118 997 362 691 352 352 3.2% 2.9% 3.3% 696,258 674,142

Southwest Airlines
COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC Preliminary data

June SECOND QUARTER TO DATE

2011 2010 2011 2010 CHANGE CHANGE 2011 2010 CHANGE

Revenue passengers carried 7,750,146 8,050,632 44,610,048 23,494,933 22,883,422 3.9% 42,860,257 4.1% 2.7%

9,562,142 passengers boarded 3.8% 9,924,612 28,854,794 54,453,912 27,554,201 51,248,665 4.7% 6.3%

Revenue passenger miles (000) 7692976 7066096 22109453 20206229 9.4% 41,305,339 8.9% 37,367,943 10.5%

Available Seat Mile (000) 9212639 8627117 27009689 25471845 6.0% 51,515,363 6.8% 48,091,305 7.1%

The load factor 81.9% 83.5% 1.6 points. 79.3% 81.9% 2.6 points. 77.7% 80.2% 2.5 points.

Average length of distance 956 912 941 883 6.6% 4.8% 6.2% 926 872

Airline Travel 100 180 96 753 296 151 287 222 3.5% 3.1% 3.8% 569,974 549,114

AirTran Airways
COMPARATIVE TRAFFIC Preliminary data *

June SECOND QUARTER TO DATE

2011 2010 2011 2010 CHANGE CHANGE 2011 2010 CHANGE

Revenue passengers carried 5,114,085 1,843,308 5,331,915 1,823,784 9,798,195 1.1% 9,448,322 3.7% 4.3%

6,704,438 2,321,060 2,324,816 passengers boarded 6,530,545 0.2% 12,049,595 2.7% 12,299,572 2.1%

Revenue passenger miles (000) 1937564 5196805 1892366 5536810 2.4% 9,577,785 6.5% 10,056,354 5.0%

Available Seat Mile (000) 2272718 6251011 2190195 6629316 6.1% 12,387,187 3.8% 11,923,709 3.9%

The load factor 85.3% 86.4% (1.1) points. 83.1% 83.5% 0.4 points. 80.3% 81.2% 0.9 points.

Average length of distance 1.038 1.051 1.038 1.3% 1.014 2.2% 1.016 1.2% 1.026

Trips flown 22,603?? 22,244 66,540 65,130 1.6% 126,284 2.2% 125,028 1.0%

* AirTran Airways ‘traffic statistics have been adjusted to comply with Southwest Airlines’ presentation.

SOURCE Southwest Airlines Co.

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