ATA Airlines Out Of Business

[brooklynite]

Source: CBS News

ATA Airlines announced Thursday morning it is shutting down all operations and canceling all current and future flights.

The airline shut down operations as of 3 a.m. Thursday morning. Customers who arrived for flights at Midway International Airport were turned away Thursday morning, while employees who showed up for work were told they were no longer needed.

The move comes after the airline filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday in Indianapolis. In a statement posted on its Web site Thursday morning, the airline said it had become impossible to continue operations after the loss of a key contract for its military charter business.

Read more: http://cbs2chicago.com/local/ata.out.business.2.691008.html

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Two airlines in two weeks...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Three.

Aloha, Champion, and ATA. Not good...

[rucognizant]

2. ATA?

What do those initials stand for? This non recognition habit of initialing everything certainly does make everything gray & bland.

[Kolesar]

4. I have never heard of them, myself

I fly about once every three years.

[sce56]

5. Main business was Military charter flights to Japan Korea England and Germany

[brooklynite]

11. From Wikipedia

ATA Airlines, Inc., formerly known as American Trans Air, was an American low-cost scheduled service and charter airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana. ATA operated scheduled passenger flights throughout the US mainland and Hawaii, as well as military and commercial charter flights around the world. The airline maintained focus cities at Chicago Midway International Airport, Honolulu International Airport, and Oakland International Airport.

[mainer]

3. Aww. They were a fun airline.

I flew them several times to vacation spots in the Caribbean. I think they do a lot of vacation charters. And they had one of the best safety records of any US airline.

[saigon68]

6. Apparently they didn't bribe The Chimp and Cheney enough

[Demeter]

13. Chimp and Cheney Have Been Trying to Put All Airlines Out of Business Since the Start

and I have no idea why, except to entrap us sheep in the country...a continent-wide gulag?

[Doctor_J]

7. They're canceling current flights?

:shrug:

[Gman]

8. Did they make poltical contributions to Democrats or something?

Or did some other wealthy GOP/conservative nutcase start his own airline and he got the contract?

[usaftmo]

9. This reminds me of enron

Why do I have a hunch the executives are going to get zillions of dollars out of this, while all the employees are out of a job...without prior notice...and no severance of any kind?!?!

:grr:

[54anickel]

10. I'm sure it's co-inky-dink, but...you've gotta love this headline:

Air Transport Association Details Airline Efforts to Protect the Environment While Urging Congress to Support R&D, Alternative Fuels and Modernized Routes

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1297868/

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2008, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ -- -- The Air Transport Association of America (ATA), the industry trade organization representing the leading U.S. airlines, testifying today before the U.S. House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, detailed the industry's strong environmental performance and set forth its plans for further enhancing airline efforts to protect the environment.

"Commercial aviation in the United States has a decidedly strong environmental track record that is often overlooked or misstated," said ATA President and CEO James C. May during today's hearing. "U.S. commercial aviation contributes just 2 percent of domestic greenhouse gas emissions, compared to 25 percent for the balance of the transportation industry. Today's airplanes are not just smarter -- they are quieter, cleaner and use less fuel than ever before -- but we also fly them smarter."

U.S. commercial airlines improved their fuel efficiency by 103 percent between 1978 and 2006, the equivalent of taking roughly 17 million cars off the road. ATA carriers have made a commitment to improve their fuel efficiency by an additional 30 percent by 2025. They also are dedicated to developing commercially viable, environmentally friendly jet fuels.

While May focused primarily on airline-driven initiatives, he added that the commercial aviation industry can achieve an additional 15 percent in fuel efficiency if NextGen, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-led initiative to modernize air traffic control, is approved by Congress.

more...

[slampoet]

12. Happens everytime fuel spikes. Sorry 'bout lost jobs but they werent a positive flying experience .

They were responsible for my worst flying experience ever.

[davsand]

14. I flew with them one time--never again after that.

I too am sorry to hear about job loss, but I was not happy at all with the one trip I booked with them. Delays both coming and going, and that plane was packed tight enough that even with just a small child next to me I was uncomfortable.

If I remember it right they screwed up our luggage too...


Laura

[Psephos]

15. Schumpeterian n/t

[Fiendish Thingy]

16. Just had to re-book a flight on United for my vacation

after receiving an email from ATA this morning about the bankruptcy. The new tickets cost $1000 more than the ATA tickets ( which were extremely cheap, and purchased back in October). My credit card co. says I should should see the ATA refund in 4-6 weeks, so that's a relief...

My outbound flight on United is scheduled to be on a 777; United has grounded their entire fleet of 777's due to probs with fire control systems...hope it's fixed by July...haven't heard any rumblings about bankruptcy for United yet...if they go under, all bets are off...