Flyer100

Any thoughts on how soon SWA will be flying into Atlanta?

PeteyNice

If Delta/Northwest is any indication not for a while. DL/NW announced the merger in April 2008 and the last flight called Northwest was January 2010.

alggag

Could we get a ? added to the end of the title? My first impression was that this was an announcement that WN was going in on their own.

Something that I've been wondering about is that while WN and FL are supposed to operate at seperate companies until the merger is approved, what's stopping them from setting up a codeshare ASAP? It would be nice to start utilizing the FL network/picking up credits. Besides, once the merger is approved they are going to have to address that issue anyway.

SKIEL

they are "engaged" right now. They are not "married."

alggag

Yeah, but a codeshare is just a "friend with benefits". AS certainly does get around, so to speak.

Justin026

In comparing with the NW/DL merger, remember that there already was code-sharing and an FF alliance between them for quite a while prior to the merger period. AirTran and Southwest definitely are behind by comparison.

Earning FF miles on each other would be a starting point, AirTran had an arrangement with Frontier until last year.

Maybe a couple of SW cities worth linking to ATL during this period would be definitely Nashville and hopefully Newark. Bringing in flights from the SW hubs is more logical from SW's point of view, though the big ones are all AirTran cities. I don't know if cherry picking non-AirTran cities like Louisville or Hartford or upgrading service to Jacksonville would pass muster with regulators during a time both carriers are supposed to act independently.

rumorboy

As someone one here as already stated, until the DOJ does there anitrust review and Airtran shareholders approve the the sale of the airline to SWA both airlines will operate completely seperate. The reason they don't code share today is because of the DOJ review. There may be a chance(very doubtful because of the past 3 mergers, NWA/DAL, AWA/USA, CAL/UAL that the DOJ approved) that they may force SWA to sell off pieces of Airtran that may be valuable to SWA. Once all of that is done and the DOCC(date of corp. closing) is complete, then you will begin to see changes at Airtran. Shortly after DOCC the first thing they will do from a passanger's perspective is a code share. CEO Gary Kelly has already said that want to fly into ATL this summer. Its anybodies guess what cities they will fly from. It will take up to 18 months to fully intergrate both airlines under one single operating certificate for the FAA.

buckeyefanflyer

Why city not served by Air Tran to ATL would be a good route if WN wanted to enter ATL before the merger is complete.

lougord99

gates, ground personel, gate and ticket personel etc. WN would be foolish to go into ATL in a small way now, when they will be there in a big way soon.

alggag

With their own planes or as an FL codeshare? Does FL have extra gates at ATL that WN could use?

rumorboy

Airtran has plenty of room to grow in ATL. Airtran is no where near max capacity out of there gates. You can easily push another 100+ flights a day out ATL with the Airtran gates. Airtran will share the gates with SWA.

As far as there own metal, yes SWA has said they would like to fly there own metal starting this summer. In some cases with the code share you will fly one internary with airtran,then connect on SWA to places Airtran does not serve and vice versa. For example you may fly SWA from MDW-MCO and then connect on Airtran to MCO-AUA(aruba). I read the other day that SWA route planners have indicated they may add up to a 1000 new internaries they can create with the merger. Hence why SWA is very excited about the merger.

N830MH

I was wondering how much the times when the merger is approves? I wasn't sure if WN is coming into ATL. Because it was too many aircraft due to the congestions. I don't see what happening in near the future.

formeraa

Umm, that's what happens when you merge with another carrier who has a major hub with cities currently unserved by WN. No big deal!

excop48

Probably the first thing SWA and FL will do is start a codeshare. The day the papers are signed SWA will be responsible for all of FL expenses. In the airports that they both fly to you will probably see the ticket counters combined real fast. However the reservations systems are not compatible, so this probably means until SWA gets a new reservations system you will see both airlines operating side by side.

Eemraldskies

Because it is a buyout and not a merger it may not take as long as people think to get Southwest branding into place and start using those gates. Since it is not a merger and Southwest will own AirTran and have complete control, it's likely to move faster than the mergers we've seen.

I know I've read that they are on the verge of picking the new vendor for the reservation system.