Southwest’s $550 Million Integration of AirTran Still A Work in Progress
Skift Take
As airline integrations go, Southwest-AirTran has been relatively smooth. United-Continental is a nightmare in comparison.
More than three years after Southwest acquired AirTran for $1.4 billion, the integration of the two carriers is a work in progress, although it is expected to be completed by the end of 2014.
If you consider that Southwest announced its agreement to acquire AirTran in late September 2010, even though integration work had to await the transaction's official closing to commence, then the integration wait seems even more protracted.
Whether you are a proponent or opponent of consolidation in the U.S. airline industry, its somewhat limited future array of possibilities shoul
