Southwest Airlines to buy AirTran Airways

[ucfknightryan]

Southwest is buying AirTran - link

I'm bummed out, my hometown airline is going away 

[swiftus27]

CAK will never be the same.

[ucfknightryan]

ATL will now become the fourth largest hub in the Southwest network.  Probably the only reason it won't surpass BWI is because AirTran also operates a secondary hub there, considering AirTran flies to more places from ATL than Southwest does from any of it's hubs.  If I were Delta, I'd be concerned.  It sounds like Southwest is already planning to grow ATL, and I'm guessing that getting access to ATL is the primary motivation for this purchase.

I figure here in Orlando we'll will wind up as the 5th or 6th largest Southwest hub unless they eliminate a lot of flights.  We go from being a hub for three airlines to being a hub for two, hopefully things still stay cheap.  I'm really going to miss those cheap business class upgrades though...

[swiftus27]

what about SW's desire to have one fleet type?  AirTran's 717s will change that up.

[ucfknightryan]

Haven't seen anything saying they plan on replacing them, I'd guess that with a fleet of well over 600 aircraft, they figure they can live with two types. 

[RushmoreAir]

Haven't seen anything saying they plan on replacing them, I'd guess that with a fleet of well over 600 aircraft, they figure they can live with two types. 

Maybe they'll just ditch the 717s.  If you look at it, SW has a strong business model, and the acquisition might just be for slots and to reduce competition.

[ucfknightryan]

Maybe they'll just ditch the 717s.  If you look at it, SW has a strong business model, and the acquisition might just be for slots and to reduce competition.

Maybe eventually, but I don't think there's nearly enough overlap between the two for them to do so without actually cutting back somewhere, and I just don't see that.  Hell, they might look at it as good practice for whenever Boeing finally replaces the 737 and they have to deal with whatever they replace it with 

[Brockster]

So, I know the plan is to "integrate" both companies, but does that mean that the AirTran brand will disappear completely? If that's true I'll also be very bummed.

[swiftus27]

So, I know the plan is to "integrate" both companies, but does that mean that the AirTran brand will disappear completely? If that's true I'll also be very bummed.

Maybe they'll rebrand and become Valujet

[twistedraisin]

It makes sense, especially after the failed bid to snag Frontier. It gives SWA a chance to expand operations quickly at MKE as well, one of the big things that they would have gotten out of the Frontier deal. I think the added bonus is that they get the increased space at ATL.

I wonder what changes they'll be making, though, as I've never had anything but miserable experiences on AirTran.

[Brockster]

What about their Business Class seats? I know there has been speculation, although mostly from a select few a.netters, that SWA might want to introduce a business class cabin but I don't see that happening... I'd like to think that the AirTran planes will be re-configured at some point.

[ucfknightryan]

What about their Business Class seats? I know there has been speculation, although mostly from a select few a.netters, that SWA might want to introduce a business class cabin but I don't see that happening... I'd like to think that the AirTran planes will be re-configured at some point.

which is unfortunate since those seats were one of the awesome parts about flying with them.  Also, my coworkers say they'll miss the free booze 

[Sigma]

Kelly has already said that SWA will continue to operate a single-class service only, so don't bet on AirTrain's business class staying around.

As for the free booze, no one gives it more plentifully than SWA... well, in Coach anyway.  Sure it's not unlimited in Business, but if you fly anything remotely close to often, you get more coupons for free booze than you could ever use unless you're a total lush -- at least I do, but I'm A-List with Companion Pass.  And if you fly Business Select (and you'd be crazy not to, especially if you drink, since the service pays for itself for the price of the drink coupon you get) then you get a free drink anyway.

[ucfknightryan]

Kelly has already said that SWA will continue to operate a single-class service only, so don't bet on AirTrain's business class staying around.

As for the free booze, no one gives it more plentifully than SWA... well, in Coach anyway.  Sure it's not unlimited in Business, but if you fly anything remotely close to often, you get more coupons for free booze than you could ever use unless you're a total lush -- at least I do, but I'm A-List with Companion Pass.  And if you fly Business Select (and you'd be crazy not to, especially if you drink, since the service pays for itself for the price of the drink coupon you get) then you get a free drink anyway.

Yeah, my coworkers have an irrational dislike of Southwest though, so who knows if they'll ever find any of that out 

[coopdogyo]

Here is a link to a website put out by South West about the merger. http://www.lowfaresfarther.com/  If you look at the Q and A section it says that the 717's will be operated for sometime to come and will be painted in south west livery. Also this is a pretty good day for me considering I bought 250 shares of Air Tran about a month ago. 

[swiftus27]

^^^ did they pay a premium for the merger?  Do you know what they are offering as a per-share price yet?  I hope you made a lot of money!  (well off of 250 shares I hope you made enough for a couple hundred Sami Credits)

[Kazari]

AAI was trading around $4.50/share on Friday. It's currently hovering around $7.34.

"AirTran shareholders will receive at least $3.75 in cash and 0.321 shares of Southwest common stock for each share of AirTran common stock they hold, for an implied value of approximately $7.69 per share."

[swiftus27]

Nice!  A nice return on a ~$1000 investment!

[Frogiton]

Oooooh, SWA's gonna fly international. My favorite airline just got better. 

[Ilyushin]

SWA announced they will keep the 717 for a time to come, painting them in the SWA livery even.

They are getting 86! They can schedule them efficiently because they have this much.