AFAIK they are, at leat in the Hawai'ian market, where they utilize 757s. As another poster noted, though, they must really be wishing they could afford to replace those ancient maintenance-hog L-1011s in order to grab more of the military charter market.
Ahh the second shoe drops
- Thread starter wnbubbleboy
- Start date
AFAIK they are, at leat in the Hawai'ian market, where they utilize 757s. As another poster noted, though, they must really be wishing they could afford to replace those ancient maintenance-hog L-1011s in order to grab more of the military charter market.
eolesen
Veteran
- Jul 23, 2003
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Besides the problems with the Tritanic's reliability, ATA's long-haul military charter business is also hurting because NWA, UAL, and AMR are now going after the same business.
ATA isn't making nearly the same margin they were making when they were the only game in town, mainly because they're having to price their bids against the lower costs of the 744 and 777's that UAL, NWA, and AMR are using.
I have to admit that I was convinced WN was going after a full blown merger, but this last move shows that it was nothing more than window dressing to appease the City of Chicago by making it appear that all the jobs ATA brought to MDW would be secure.
I give it a year before they're liquidated... They've lost whatever market they had from IND, they've given up at MDW, and there's already too much capacity between the West Coast and Hawaii by the majors, Aloha or Hawaiian (CO just announced more last week, and Alaska is also said to be looking at starting up service to HNL and OGG).
ATA isn't making nearly the same margin they were making when they were the only game in town, mainly because they're having to price their bids against the lower costs of the 744 and 777's that UAL, NWA, and AMR are using.
I have to admit that I was convinced WN was going after a full blown merger, but this last move shows that it was nothing more than window dressing to appease the City of Chicago by making it appear that all the jobs ATA brought to MDW would be secure.
I give it a year before they're liquidated... They've lost whatever market they had from IND, they've given up at MDW, and there's already too much capacity between the West Coast and Hawaii by the majors, Aloha or Hawaiian (CO just announced more last week, and Alaska is also said to be looking at starting up service to HNL and OGG).
Difference here is there was no BK court involved in the above mentioned example
Just to add to your remarks. We at AA & UA should give a great big thanks to SW for stepping up and investing in ATA. You may be saying "How can a larger SW presence at MDW be a good thing?" Well, before SW came in, Airtran was the leading investor. You think airfares are in the tank now, just think what would have happend to the airfares at ORD if Airtran & Southwest were in a dog fight for supremacy at MDW. Passengers would be flying coast-to-coast for $20 rather than the current $120.
