CEO: AirTran expansion planned MINNEAPOLIS (AP) =97 While major airlines are slashing costs after losing=20 $3.6 billion in the first quarter, AirTran Airways CEO Joe Leonard is=20 expanding service and making plans to acquire at least 50 and as many as=20 100 new airplanes. The low-fare carrier made $10.7 million last year, and=20 Leonard wants to expand the Florida-based company by 25 percent a year.=20 Leonard, who has a home in Forest Lake, Minn., talked about the airline's=20 success in a speech in Andover at a MetroNorth Chamber of Commerce luncheon= =20 last week and in a later Star Tribune interview, published Monday. AirTran= =20 is based in Orlando, Fla., but has its major hub in Atlanta. It serves 43=20 cities, having expanded into the Western United States last week by=20 beginning nonstop service to Denver, and it plans to add flights to Los=20 Angeles and Las Vegas in June. AirTran currently is meeting with Airbus and= =20 Boeing because Leonard wants to add a new plane type to the fleet =97 either= =20 the Boeing 737 or the Airbus A319. "To give you an idea of how optimistic=20 we are, the airplane deal that we are talking about is for 100 airplanes =97= =20 50 firm orders and 50 options" to acquire planes, Leonard said. AirTran=20 wants the type of plane that's suitable for coast-to-coast flights. Leonard= =20 expects to choose between Airbus and Boeing this summer and then start=20 taking delivery on the new planes in June 2004. The new planes are expected= =20 to arrive at the rate of one per month over 50 months. AirTran's fleet is=20 dominated by new Boeing 717s, which seat 105 in coach class and 12 in=20 business class. By year's end, AirTran will phase out a few remaining DC-9s= =20 and have a fleet of 73 Boeing 717s. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Mas Site: www.tntisland.com/tntrecords/mas2003/ Site of the Week: http://www.caribbeanfloral.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************