It's water under the bridge, now, but I personally think AirTran was sincere. At the time, they needed more 717's, and it would have been cheaper to get them that way (Boeing had killed off the type, so it didn't compete with new versions of the 737, thus they couldn't be bought new). My guess is that flight crews would have been kept. My further guess is that NWA, at that point, made the decision to get control, and blunt AirTran, which was threatening their high fare, low service operation. TPG provided cover, so the regulators could look the other way, and senior management went along, for obvious reasons. Thus, the original shareholders, the employees, and by extension, Milwaukee area air travelers, all got screwed.