Give 'em a chance
A few words of introduction...I'm Evan, a friend of Ben who has been asked to contribute to this blog. Being an enthusiast of the commercial aviation and airline industries of the past and present, many of my entries will concern my flying experiences, as well as historical aspects of the airline industry. Being a resident of Boston, where one has the opportunity to travel by train, trolley, plane, bus, subway, taxi, or Zipcar, on a daily basis, I will also offer a few tidbits about public transportation in the Greater Boston area from time to time.
Today's topic: AirTran Airways
I know what some of you are thinking: "Isn't that the airline that crashed into an alligator-infested swamp and killed a bunch of people? It isn't safe; I won't fly it."
I regularly hear the above argument, and I must say I get tired of it, since I fly AirTran on a regular basis. The truth is that the accident of ValuJet Flight 592 in May of 1996, which killed 110 people as the plane caught fire and plunged into the Everglades, happened 10 years ago, under a different organization and company name, with a different fleet of planes, and under different (more lenient) rules and regulations regarding the transport of hazardous materials, which was determined to be the cause of the Flight 592 disaster (improperly loaded oxygen canisters). Much has changed over the years...
I flew ValuJet in 1997, roughly a year after the accident and the brief grounding of the company's planes. With the crash fresh in my head, I was less than relaxed while I flew from Atlanta to Newport News, Virginia aboard one of the airline's aging one-class cabins. I was seated at the front of the cabin, facing a large image of a cartoon plane (the company's mascot) mounted on the front cabin bulkhead. The flight attendants wore navy blue shorts and polo shirts while handing out stuffed ValuJet airplanes to the kiddies. The plane was much louder than I expected, this being my first flying experience, not to mention that my perceptions of flying were limited to those I had seen depicted in movies or on TV.
Well, a lot has changed since then. Faced with a tarnished reputation due to the 1996 accident, the airline merged with Air Tran Airways in 1999 and assumed that company's name, adopted a new paint scheme for its planes (based on the old merging Air Tran Airways livery...see pictures below), and gave the airline a more "dressed-up" look, including assigned seating, a two-class cabin, and flight attendants dressed in formal uniforms. However, the company still operated a dilapidated fleet of 30+ year-old DC9s and 1st-generation Boeing 737-200s. I remember contemplating bringing earplugs on some flights, as the experience at the rear of a DC9 (a tail-mounted twinjet) is similar to taking off in a rocket. I remember that, on one flight, there was a short in part of the lighting system, something that isn't very comforting as one is traveling at 33,000 ft in a pressurized tube at 550 MPH. I won't even go into the poor condition of the seating.
Over the years, the airline continued to change its image. Gone are the old DC9s (the only major airline in the US that continues to operate them with regularity being Northwest) and 737-200s. In 1999, AirTran was the launch customer of the state-of-the-art Boeing 717, a descendant of the hugely successful DC9 and MD-80 series aircraft. The 717 boasts a cabin with the some of the largest overhead compartment space per passenger among modern aircraft, as well as being the first aircraft designed to use 100% fresh air, as opposed to recirculated air, throughout the cabin. Recently, the airline has been acquiring a number of slightly larger Boeing 737-700 aircraft as well. The most recent luxury the airline has offered to passengers is XM Satellite Radio on all of their planes, during a time in which luxuries on other airlines (extra seat pitch on American Airlines or DirectTV) are slowly being taken away due to financial hardships. It is amazing to see how far the airline has come along in the last 10 years, escaping an almost definite demise due to a poor safety reputation (a fate that Eastern Airlines experienced in the early 1990s) and growing, improving, and becoming one of the industry's most successful carriers, in an age where many major carriers are operating under Chapter 11 protection. AirTran continues to make annual profits.
The most recent time I flew on AirTran was 2 days ago, on a direct flight from Newport News/Williamsburg Int'l Airport in Virginia to Boston. As usual, I was not disappointed by the service, the XM Satellite Radio (an audio jack on every armrest is compatible with most personal headsets - they are also available for free), and the extremely quiet ride on the 6-month old (as we were told) Boeing 717. So, think beyond the checkered past of the company, and give Airtran a try when flying one of their many (and ever increasing number of) routes.
A look at the planes through the last 10 years...
A ValuJet DC9-32; these flew as below from 1993-1999.
An ex-ValuJet AirTran DC9-32; these 30 year-old planes were replaced by B717s starting in 1999.
An Air Tran Boeing 737-200, in the old livery used prior to the merger of Air Tran Airways with ValuJet...
A new Boeing 717-200, a descendant of the popular DC9...
A Boeing 717 in the new livery...
A brand new next generation Boeing 737-700, in new livery...
Today's topic: AirTran Airways
I know what some of you are thinking: "Isn't that the airline that crashed into an alligator-infested swamp and killed a bunch of people? It isn't safe; I won't fly it."
I regularly hear the above argument, and I must say I get tired of it, since I fly AirTran on a regular basis. The truth is that the accident of ValuJet Flight 592 in May of 1996, which killed 110 people as the plane caught fire and plunged into the Everglades, happened 10 years ago, under a different organization and company name, with a different fleet of planes, and under different (more lenient) rules and regulations regarding the transport of hazardous materials, which was determined to be the cause of the Flight 592 disaster (improperly loaded oxygen canisters). Much has changed over the years...
I flew ValuJet in 1997, roughly a year after the accident and the brief grounding of the company's planes. With the crash fresh in my head, I was less than relaxed while I flew from Atlanta to Newport News, Virginia aboard one of the airline's aging one-class cabins. I was seated at the front of the cabin, facing a large image of a cartoon plane (the company's mascot) mounted on the front cabin bulkhead. The flight attendants wore navy blue shorts and polo shirts while handing out stuffed ValuJet airplanes to the kiddies. The plane was much louder than I expected, this being my first flying experience, not to mention that my perceptions of flying were limited to those I had seen depicted in movies or on TV.
Well, a lot has changed since then. Faced with a tarnished reputation due to the 1996 accident, the airline merged with Air Tran Airways in 1999 and assumed that company's name, adopted a new paint scheme for its planes (based on the old merging Air Tran Airways livery...see pictures below), and gave the airline a more "dressed-up" look, including assigned seating, a two-class cabin, and flight attendants dressed in formal uniforms. However, the company still operated a dilapidated fleet of 30+ year-old DC9s and 1st-generation Boeing 737-200s. I remember contemplating bringing earplugs on some flights, as the experience at the rear of a DC9 (a tail-mounted twinjet) is similar to taking off in a rocket. I remember that, on one flight, there was a short in part of the lighting system, something that isn't very comforting as one is traveling at 33,000 ft in a pressurized tube at 550 MPH. I won't even go into the poor condition of the seating.
Over the years, the airline continued to change its image. Gone are the old DC9s (the only major airline in the US that continues to operate them with regularity being Northwest) and 737-200s. In 1999, AirTran was the launch customer of the state-of-the-art Boeing 717, a descendant of the hugely successful DC9 and MD-80 series aircraft. The 717 boasts a cabin with the some of the largest overhead compartment space per passenger among modern aircraft, as well as being the first aircraft designed to use 100% fresh air, as opposed to recirculated air, throughout the cabin. Recently, the airline has been acquiring a number of slightly larger Boeing 737-700 aircraft as well. The most recent luxury the airline has offered to passengers is XM Satellite Radio on all of their planes, during a time in which luxuries on other airlines (extra seat pitch on American Airlines or DirectTV) are slowly being taken away due to financial hardships. It is amazing to see how far the airline has come along in the last 10 years, escaping an almost definite demise due to a poor safety reputation (a fate that Eastern Airlines experienced in the early 1990s) and growing, improving, and becoming one of the industry's most successful carriers, in an age where many major carriers are operating under Chapter 11 protection. AirTran continues to make annual profits.
The most recent time I flew on AirTran was 2 days ago, on a direct flight from Newport News/Williamsburg Int'l Airport in Virginia to Boston. As usual, I was not disappointed by the service, the XM Satellite Radio (an audio jack on every armrest is compatible with most personal headsets - they are also available for free), and the extremely quiet ride on the 6-month old (as we were told) Boeing 717. So, think beyond the checkered past of the company, and give Airtran a try when flying one of their many (and ever increasing number of) routes.
A look at the planes through the last 10 years...
A ValuJet DC9-32; these flew as below from 1993-1999.
An ex-ValuJet AirTran DC9-32; these 30 year-old planes were replaced by B717s starting in 1999.
An Air Tran Boeing 737-200, in the old livery used prior to the merger of Air Tran Airways with ValuJet...
A new Boeing 717-200, a descendant of the popular DC9...
A Boeing 717 in the new livery...
A brand new next generation Boeing 737-700, in new livery...
posted by Evan at 7:45 PM
1 Comments:
Thanks, Evan, for your first post and for livening up with page with a few pics. More from you in the future, I hope! I should add that my experience aboard Airtran traveling from BWI to Miami was quite pleasant, and the business class service easily outstripped Delta's first-class amenities.
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