ATA bankruptcy: SWA Can't take over Hawaii Routes

Last week Southwest Airlines marketing partner American Trans Air (ATA) filed for bankruptcy. ATA was a major player in the US-Hawaiian market. Southwest in the meantime, has gotten a number of customer inquiries as to why they can't just "takeover" ATA's route stucture.

Some of that has to do with federal regulatory issues, but for the most part, it has to do with the aircraft that SWA flies vs, whats needed in that long, over water market. SWA B737's are not ETOPS rated, meaning they are not rated for twin engine flight on long, over water flights.

Southwest has a pretty great corporate blog and has an article on this subject as noted below. I suspect the major beneficiary on the mainland US to Hawaii routes will be Delta and United.

clipped from www.blogsouthwest.com Why No Southwest to Hawaii? By: Bill Owen - Schedule Planning Lead Planner Everyone at Southwest Airlines was saddened by the sudden termination of service by our codeshare partner, ATA Airlines. Setting aside the business relationship for just a second, we appreciate the hard work of our colleagues at ATA, and wish them nothing but the best in the future. However, I thought I should post a quick blog about a question that’s come up MANY times since ATA ceased operating—why didn’t Southwest buy (or take over) ATA’s Hawaii routes? As much as all of us at Southwest would love to have done it, there are a few absolute brick walls that prevent us from just jumping in on short notice to fill the void left by ATA. The simple answer: we can’t.

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