myguideTravel Blog

Farewell ATA

April 5th, 2008

These past few days have been a reckoning for the aviation industry as no less than three air carriers have gone belly up, with a few more probably to follow. Apparently, the environment to operate an airline now is pretty tough, with rising fuel prices and a softening economy exacerbating other factors such as aircraft efficiency and labor costs to the point where several carriers have just shut their doors without warning and at least one more (Champion Air) plans to do so shortly.

Additionally, in Europe, two habitual loss making flag carriers (Italy’s Alitalia and Greece’s Olympic) remain on a razor’s edge and will most likely fail without the (now illegal) government handouts that so often saw them through the bad times and the good. Alitalia is in most danger as a take over bid by Air France KLM recently fell apart and with the airline burning nearly $1.5 million a day, it may not be around to see the results of the upcoming Italian elections.

Of all these recent failings, I will admit the shutting down of Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines struck me the most. Not only was ATA the only one of these airlines that I had actually flown, but we had cooperated with them for several years on flights to Ireland in conjunction with our vacation packages. We had worked with ATA on both their scheduled services to Ireland as well as our seasonal charter program series that we, through our predecesor Crystal Travel, had contracted. I have very fond memories of them and, while we did encounter the occasional delay along the way, overall their employees provided a great service and flew tens of thousands of our Guests safely to & from Ireland so they could enjoy their holiday. Indeed, ATA had the wonderful record of not ever having a fatal passenger event since it commenced regular passenger service.

In closing, I extend my thanks to the many staff of ATA who helped us over their years and wish all of them the best of luck in the future. ATA: 1973-2008. Rest in Peace.

Entry Filed under: Flights, Ireland, Travel, Travel tools