US low-cost carrier AirTran Airways has launched a new evaluation of longer-range aircraft to support expected westward expansion plans which could lead to diversification of its fleet or prompt Boeing into launching the first derivative of the 717.Although AirTran is examining the proposed stretched, longer-range 717-300X, it is also considering the Airbus A319 and Boeing 737-700 as Boeing may be unwilling to develop the 717 family further. "Those conversations are preliminary. We have just started in earnest," says chief executive Joe Leonard. AirTran is committed to leasing 23 additional 117-seat 717-200s in 2003, giving it an all-717 fleet of 73 aircraft by the end of this year. Leonard says AirTran can continue to grow profitably at 25% a year for "the foreseeable future". But the carrier wants to focus expansion on east-west flying to balance out its much larger north-south operation, where profitability suffers from seasonal fluctuations.
AirTran has already tapped Denver as its first city in the western half of the USA and is looking at more new cities in the west for the second half of 2003 and 2004. The carrier has a proposal from Boeing to add long-range tanks to some of its 717-200s, which Leonard says will allow the aircraft to operate non-stops from its Atlanta hub to Los Angeles. Boeing declines to comment on the status of the 130-seat 717-300X proposal, but says: "We are in ongoing discussions with them to meet their fleet needs."
Source: Flight International
