NYTimes.com Article: Southwest Adds ATA Flights From Chicago

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Southwest Adds ATA Flights From Chicago

January 14, 2005
 By MICHELINE MAYNARD





Southwest Airlines' code-sharing arrangement with ATA
Airlines will allow Southwest's passengers to fly from
Chicago to several new destinations, including La Guardia
and Newark Airports, Boston and Washington, the airlines
said yesterday.

The agreement is scheduled to begin on Feb. 4, said Gary C.
Kelly, Southwest's chief executive. Passengers will be able
to buy tickets from Southwest to the new destinations
beginning on Sunday, when the airline said it would
announce the fares.

Last month, Southwest, the largest low-fare airline in the
United States and the sixth-largest over all, paid $117
million for six of ATA's gates at Chicago Midway
International Airport, making Southwest the dominant
airline there. Southwest also acquired a stake in ATA,
which sought bankruptcy protection in October.

Under the code-sharing arrangement, the two airlines agreed
to share flight designations in a number of routes. Each
can sell tickets on trips involving the other airline. Each
will also set the fare on the portion that they fly and
divide the revenue, Mr. Kelly said.

Southwest will put its flight numbers on ATA's flights from
Chicago to La Guardia and Newark Airports, Logan Airport in
Boston, Minneapolis-St. Paul International, Denver
International, Honolulu International, San Francisco
International, Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington
and airports in Fort Myers, Sarasota and St. Petersburg,
Fla.

Southwest does not serve any of those airports, and until
the agreement with ATA, it had not shared flight
designations with other domestic carriers. But, Mr. Kelly
said, "We felt for years a code-share would fit in certain
circumstances. This one works very well."

In a number of those cities, including Boston, San
Francisco and Washington, Southwest offers service to one
or more smaller airports nearby, like Manchester, N.H.;
Oakland, Calif.; and Baltimore. It established that
strategy years ago to penetrate major metropolitan areas
that were dominated by the major airlines.

On the Denver and Minneapolis routes, Southwest planned to
offer service to hubs for United Airlines and Northwest
Airlines, respectively.

Dallas-Fort Worth International, the home base of American
Airlines, was absent from the list of airports, although
ATA flies there. Southwest, which is based at Love Field in
Dallas, is challenging a federal law called the Wright
Amendment that limits flights from that airport to eight
states including Texas.

Mr. Kelly said Southwest planned to serve Dallas only from
Love Field and did not want to confuse passengers by adding
service to Dallas-Fort Worth on ATA while it fought to
repeal the amendment. American and the cities of Dallas and
Fort Worth oppose Southwest's efforts.

For now, the airlines do not plan to let members of their
frequent-flier programs use their credits on the other
airline. While that may happen eventually, Mr. Kelly said
he envisioned limits on the number of seats Southwest
passengers could book on ATA, given that Southwest is 10
times larger than ATA.

Passengers would earn frequent-flier credits from the
airline on which they book the ticket, Mr. Kelly said, even
if a portion of the flight took place on the other carrier.


The move by Southwest comes a week after the airline said
that it would start service in May to Pittsburgh
International Airport. US Airways, which is in bankruptcy
protection for the second time in two years, is dismantling
its hub there.

Separately, a federal loan board agreed yesterday that US
Airways could continue to draw from its cash to run its
operations through June 30.

US Airways pledged its cash, airplanes, routes, gates and
other collateral to secure the $717 million balance on its
package of federal loan guarantees. It defaulted on that
agreement when it filed for bankruptcy protection on Sept.
12. The Air Transportation Stabilization Board has allowed
US Airways to use its cash since then.

The June 30 date coincides with the deadline set in an
agreement US Airways reached last fall with GE Capital
Aviation Services, its aircraft lender. By then, US Airways
must present a restructuring plan to the United States
Bankruptcy Court in Alexandria, Va.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/14/business/14air.html?ex=1106711146&ei=1&en=87dbab9ed5e09dc2


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