TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Saturday marked 10 years since AirTran Airways officially shut down after being purchased by Southwest Airlines. But the now-defunct airline will always have a special connection to Tampa.
AirTran’s final revenue flight was on Dec. 28, 2014, from Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport (ATL) to Tampa International Airport (TPA). When the plane landed in Tampa, it officially marked the end of the airline and the integration with Southwest was complete.
Why did the airline choose Tampa for its last flight?
AirTran Airways started in the early 1990s as Conquest Sun Airlines, which was based in Orlando. Conquest Sun Airlines was purchased in 1994 by AirTran Corporation, which renamed the airline AirTran Airways.
In 1997, ValuJet purchased AirTran Airways and planned to drop the ValuJet name, the New York Times reported — after two major incidents, including a crash on May 11, 1996, in the Florida Everglades that resulted in the deaths of all 110 passengers and crew members on board, according to the National Transportation Safety Board .