ATA ceases operations

photo by Drewski2112

ATA Airlines announced today that after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, it has "discontinued all operations and cancelled all current and future flights". "Following the loss of a key contract for our military charter business, it became impossible for ATA to continue operations," the airline said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we were not in a position to provide our customers or others with advance notice."

When it shut down, ATA operated 29 airplanes (Boeing 737-800s, Boeing 757-200s and -300s, DC-10s and L-1011s) and carrried about 10,000 passengers per day. The airline's 2,230 employees will be laid off.

The statement made by the airline said that "a primary factor leading to these actions was the unexpected cancellation of a key contract for ATA’s military charter business, which made it impossible for ATA to obtain additional capital to sustain its operations or restructure the business." ATA's chief operating officer also attributed ATA's shutdown to "the tremendous spike in the price of jet fuel in recent months".

The airline was founded as American Trans Air in 1973 and changed its name to ATA in 2003. It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy once before in 2004, and emerged in 2006.

ATA was founded in 1973 and recent=

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ATA to challenge NY's passenger bill of rights

The Air Transport Association (ATA), the US airline industry trade group, is going to try to block New York state’s airline passenger Bill of Rights. Scheduled to take effect January 1, it would require airlines to provide adequate food, water, and access to waste removal if a New York-based flight has to wait more than three hours for take-off. According to the law, the state can fine airlines up to $1000 per passenger.

Airlines leaving passengers stranded on planes for hours is nothing new; winter weather at JFK airport this past February resulted in thousands of stuck travelers on planes for hours (as well as jetBlue’s much-publicized ‘Feburary meltdown’). Local politicians supported the move. "Airlines are not doing their job, and the federal government has dropped the ball," said New York senator Charles Fuschillo. "I hope other states follow." And New York state, with such airports as JFK and LaGuardia, is especially prone to long delays.

The ATA, however, maintains that long waits on the plane, like what happened back in Feburary, are a rare occurrence (not to mention unavoidable), and that if other state legislatures pass laws that change from state to state, it could lead to confusion among airlines. They also state that only federal authorities, not state legislatures, can regulate the airlines.

This move by the ATA isn’t surprising. It’s true that some events, like winter storms, are certainly out of the airlines’ control. But maybe airlines should take measures to ensure that passengers who are stranded on board planes have access to these critical “amenities”, because it only takes one ‘fiasco’ involving passengers stuck on a plane to result in some pretty negative PR.

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