Southwest Airlines says combining the two companies could take 18 to 36 months. Until it is complete, AirTran will continue business pretty much as usual. Kristy Van Auken of Akron-Canton Airport says AirTran carries half of its 1.6 million annual passengers.
Kristy Van Auken: You can still book your fares at AirTran.com. You'll still be able to enjoy their business class seating. You'll still have all of the amenities and the great routes they offer until the airlines [are] integrated.
While AirTran has had a historical presence at Akron-Canton, just 50 miles north, Southwest has operated out of Cleveland Hopkins Airport. Southwest is Hopkins' second biggest carrier after Continental and, a spokesperson says, operates about 10 percent of daily flights. The big question now is whether Southwest decides to consolidate their northern Ohio operations to just one airport.
Brett Snyder of the airline industry blog the Cranky Flier.com says Southwest does operate flights in regions with multiple airports like New York and Southern California. So, he says, the new airline could continue service out of Cleveland and Akron-Canton airports.
Brett Snyder: Both have good service from the combined Southwest/AirTran, so it will be interesting to see what happens with that going forward. WIll they continue to serve both airports? There should be demand for both, but you never know from a strategic standpoint what they decide to do.
And ultimately that decision could impact ticket prices. George Hobica of the website airfarewatchdog.com says airfares will probably go up.
George Hobica: It depends on whether Southwest keeps the Akron mini-hub for AirTran or if they keep on competing as two separate airlines, sort of. But I don't see them going up drastically. I do seem them going up somewhat and it really depends on the route.
Analysts also say another factor that could affect prices is costs. Southwest has higher operating costs than AirTran and the price of oil continues to go up.