Orlando, FL 1993-2012

AirTran Airways traces its roots to the 1992 founding of ValuJet Airlines. ValuJet Airlines first commercial flight was on October 26, 1993. Unfortunately, ValuJet's accident rate was fourteen times that of legacy carriers. On May 11, 1996, ValuJet suffered its highest-profile incident when its Flight 592, a DC-9 jetliner flying from Miami to Atlanta, plunged into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 aboard. ValuJet was grounded by the FAA. On September 26, 1996, ValuJet resumed flying. After the large amount of negative publicity surrounding the Flight 592 incident, ValuJet suffered serious financial problems. On July 11, 1997, ValuJet announced it would merge Airways Corporation, parent of AirTran Airways. On November 17, 1997, AirWays Corp. and ValuJet completed their merger, and the tarnished ValuJet name passed into aviation history. The original AirTran Airways operating as a Northwest Airlink carrier. In 1994, AirTran Holdings purchased Conquest Sun and renamed the airline AirTran Airways. In 1995, AirTran Airways was spun off by Mesaba and formed its own independent holding company named Airways Corporation. On September 24, 1997, ValuJet Airlines changed its name to AirTran Airlines. In the summer of 1998, the two airlines merged onto the same FAA certificate and the AirTran Airways name survived. While the hub remained in Atlanta, the headquarters of the new entity was combined in Orlando, Florida, on January 28, 1998. Air Tran Airways and Southwest Airways merged in 2012.