AirTran transatlantic flights by 2010?

[ATLcenter]

If any of you people get the Atlanta Journal Constitution, look in the Sunday Business section (date: sept. 14, 2003). There is an article that compares DL to AirTran,. and there's a little passage on how well AirTran is doing compared to Delta.
There are also several pojnts made by market analyzers. One such analyzer made a statement that AirTran may operate transatlantic by the end of the decade.

Do you guys think this is possible? Could AMerica's low-fare carriers become intercontinental? I think they cannot, simply because of their no-frills attitude. Airlines like Southwest, jetBlue, and AirTran thrive because they take a person from point A to B, and that is it. If they were to operate transatlantic, then they would naturally have to provide meals and other amenities. Unless they become a full-fledged full service airline, i seriously doubt it.

What do you think?

[FlyCharlestonSC]

It's always possable!
What would a 767 look like in Air Tran colors?
The only thing is, that it is expensive to add another fleet type. That's why SW has stayed all 737, but I guess the cockpit of the 717, the 737, and another larger boeing have some commonality. It would be nice to see them in Europe, but I'd like to see them at CHS first !

[N27015]

I would say it's unlikely...they are more "regional" airlines and if they want to open up international market, they would have already done so

[Foxtrot]

Re:

No, I don't think that idea will fly. Passengers expect more than just peanuts and pretzels or a sandwich on int'l flights. Previous attempts to start low-cost, no-frills transatlantic service have failed. The odds are against no-frills airlines to start such service on long haul flights, atleast for now. And later on as well, I think.

[DAL767-400ER]

AirTran transatlantic flights by 2010?

I also doubt that FL will be flying transatlantic. If they would, they would face stiff competition, depending on the routes and their US origin (besides ATL of course). I rather see them expanding to Canada, maybe Mexico and perhaps also the Caribbean.

[srbmod]

Here's a link to the AJC article:

http://www.ajc.com/sunday/content/epaper/editions/sunday/business_f336bc9df0ecf0b10037.html

I serious doubt AirTran would be stupid enough to launch service to Europe. Others have tried and failed, PeoplExpress, Laker, Air Florida, just to name a few. Transatlantic flights are very seasonal, and are often money-losing routes for many airlines. AirTran has rewritten most of the rules of how an LCC does things (What AirTran didn't rewrite, JetBlue did), and flights to Europe require a different model than what AirTran currently offers. With AirTran now having flights to the West Coast, they still really have not changed the way of their inflight service; there have been rumors of them possibly offering inflight meal sales. AirTran does already offer a two class service, but on an 8 hour ATL-LGW, there will have to be some frills (inflight entertainment, meal service primarily) to attract some passengers. Europe could be a possiblity maybe 10 or 15 years down the road, but by 2010, that analyst is overlooking the obvious risks in Transatlantic service.

[Triton1831]

I would say it's unlikely...they are more "regional" airlines and if they want to open up international market, they would have already done so

I agree.

But... just thinking out loud here... rather than going Trans-Atlantic, AirTran might consider flights to the Caribbean such as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or Jamaica. SouthWest might also do that... and they could consider flights to Mexico, as well.
________
BMW SAUBER F1.06 HISTORY

[MauwieAir]

they first have to fly with the bigger airplanes IN the USA. and if air tran like them they maybe can try to fly to europe(barcelona, amsterdam, rome..etc)

if they are going to fly to europe, i think they gonna use the 767-300ER (ex-TWA, KLM) ore the A330-200

[uy707]

One never knows as some says that there's no access into Lord's paths ...
Being more serious, history regularly repeat itself as in the past ;
- Laker Airways operated no-frills services between London/LGW and New York/JFK and later to Los Angeles with DC.10s until going to recievership in Feb.1982. The big Ten had large SKYTRAIN titles on the fuselage.
- Trying its best to fill the gap was People Express with former Braniff 747-200s, that was a surprise since PE was much more a New York based regional and domestic airline.
- At times, Capitol Air from the US with DC.8-61&63s and Nationair from Canada also with a wide collection of DC.8/61/62&63s tried their luck by picking up Brussels as the prime European point of call.
In France for instance, both Capitol and Nationair were much better known than People Express, as they sold the product to selected travel agents.
- During its initial years of trading, Virgin Airways, not yet known as Virgin Atlantic posed as a transatlantic low cost. It even operated a daily service linking LGW to Maastricht with a Viscount leased from BAF, primarily to offer an onward connection to continental Europe.
Now what about Air Tran
They are the brand new kid in the block, so was People....
On the other hand, they may end up in having a strong core customer base by strenghening at Atlanta, expending at Pittsburg and Baltimore, which used to be the US chief airport for bugdet and low-cost from Europe.
The increasingly loyal customers may keep asking for more services further afield, today the US West-Coast and ask sooner or later for Trans Atlantic services.
Unlike for Pan Am mark 1, they will get by then a susbtentially large network to feed flights from nice strongholds to either London (American citizens' premier Europe destination, but the problem could the lagging inability of UK and USA to conclude the much waited open sky agreement) or a major German city.
Unlike People, Air Tran will have a large choice of fairly low priced but still financially competitive and technically credible/serious airliners for the job as by then 767-300s and earlier A.330s especially the 300s, and earlier triple 7s will come up sooner or later as cheap to buy/lease and still cheap to operate.
The question are in what shape classic airlines will be
How much time Air Tran will resist the temptation to expand too fast by adding gateways within short notice in order to lure more "unkonown" customers, while ending up in frustrating the loyal ones.
Regards
Alain