FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Gary Kelly: AirTran absorption to be completed in 2014
Old Dec 19, 2013, 11:38 am
  #7  
rsteinmetz70112
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 5,813
Based on what I read elsewhere. Airtran will still have 30 something 717s at the end of 2014. A lot of people are betting they will still be flying in 2015. I can't imagine GK wanting to park them and lose the income.

Perhaps Airtran flights might be integrated into Southwests schedule with no independent booking. But I understand there are also union issues.

There will also be something like 1,000 Airtran pilots left to transition, assuming many are not jumping ship to go to Delta or one of the other legacies that have started hiring recently. Apparently while First Offices are getting a pay bump, Airtran Captains are being forced to go back to First Officer and taking a pay cut, although whether the pay cut is real or not is a contested issue. Oddly Southwest has recently started hiring and training a small number of new pilots.
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