UPDATED Big news: Southwest to buy AirTran
The Philadelphia Inquirer Blog - Winging It
UPDATED Big news: Southwest to buy AirTran
Tom Belden
Airline industry news doesn't get much bigger than this: Southwest this morning announced it would buy AirTran, forming a low-fare, low-cost behemoth that could give the four remaining carriers networks tougher competition for years to come. Southwest and AirTran have among the lowest operating costs in the industry and by combining will be more competitive in major cities, including New York, Boston and Washington, where the two are now smaller players. An AP story on the basics is here and check back as the day goes on for more developments and analysis.
UPDATE: From a Wall Street perspective, analyst Michael Linenberg of Deutsche Bank likes the deal and thinks it will be approved by federal regulators, especially since the Continental-United merger just sailed through the process unscathed. There is relatively little overlap between AirTran and Southwest route systems, and this gives the combination a stronger network, a necessity in a time of industry consolidation, he said. Southwest also gets to operate from AirTran's Atlanta hub, where it has been giving Delta competitive fits for years. The aircraft fleets of the two airlines are largely compatible, with SW operating only Boeing 737s and AirTran mostly doing the same.
At PHL, AirTran and Southwest already share a terminal (E), and this merger will make that concourse low-cost carrier central. If you haven't seen E recently check it out: Southwest has almost a dozen gates available to it, with the addition of a rotunda at the end of the E concourse.The secured areas of D and E are now one, with a shared security checkpoint, and ticketing and baggage claim areas are practically merged.
Are we really sure we want US Airways "dominance" at PHL to end? Do we want to lose non-stops to Europe and the west coast so that people can carve a few bucks off their Orlando trips?— PHILEXILE- I dont see it as the end of US Air dominance. At PHL, it means Southwest will now have ALL the gates at Terminal E, and we can start using those wonderful Rewards tickets for places in Mexico and the Caribbean.
And Steve 5444, a couple weeks back, you responded to a comment I wrote by stating, "SW will NEVER go into Atlanta...too much traffic and weather delays." I kinda think they might offer some service there starting 2012, don't you ?— Jim McCloskey - You know Southwest is not that much cheaper than any other airliner, most of the time it's more. Go to Expedia and you can take a real airline for the same price. Do you wonder why you can't purchase SW tickets through Expedia type sites. Because if people could compare they would see that they are not that cheap. Yeah it would be great if an airline that maintained an international hub ended it dominance so we can get flights to second rate cities (most of which aren't even direct anymore).— mattSR
