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81-589: West Virginia International Yeager Airport ( IATA : CRW , ICAO : KCRW , FAA LID : CRW ) is a public airport 3 miles (4.8 km) east of downtown Charleston , in unincorporated Kanawha County , West Virginia, United States. It is owned by the Central West Virginia Regional Airport Authority. The airport hosts McLaughlin Air National Guard Base , home to eight C-130 Hercules aircraft of

162-772: A "Say YES to Orlando" logo on each side and a second Boeing 717 saying "Orlando Makes Me Smile," which celebrated AirTran Airways' partnership with the OOCVB to promote travel to the city. The airline also had an aircraft paying tribute to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando . Several aircraft featured sports-related liveries . The teams represented were the Atlanta Falcons , Baltimore Ravens , Indianapolis Colts , Orlando Magic , and Milwaukee Brewers . On February 12, 2010, AirTran Airways celebrated Little Debbie 's 50th anniversary by launching

243-545: A $ 30 million operating profit. On August 15, 2001, the company's stock began trading under the ticker symbol AAI on the New York Stock Exchange . In 2002, AirTran created a regional brand, AirTran JetConnect , operated by Air Wisconsin . In 2003, following an order for 100 Boeing 737-700 aircraft, AirTran began service to Washington, D.C. 's Reagan National Airport and to San Francisco . On January 5, 2004, AirTran's last McDonnell Douglas DC-9-30

324-564: A chief pilot. In April 2011, AirTran had the best safety record among U.S. carriers as measured by the number of incidents such as bird strikes. AirTran was first with only 0.0000196 incidents per flight, Southwest second with 0.0000203, and US Airways third with 0.0000203 incidents per flight. Bill Voss, who was then head of the Flight Safety Foundation, said "the safety record in the U.S. is so good that it's very difficult to find enough accidents or incidents to draw much of

405-561: A circling approach contrary to the operator's standard operating procedures (SOP) and the captain's excessive descent rate and maneuvering during the approach, which led to inadvertent, uncontrolled contact with the ground. Contributing to the accident was the operator's lack of a formal safety and oversight program to assess hazards and compliance with SOPs and to monitor pilots with previous performance issues." West Virginia International Yeager Airport has three concourses. Concourse A IATA airport code The assignment of these codes

486-459: A conclusion about who's safest." Prior to the winding down of the airline, AirTran grew to serve more than 70 cities coast-to-coast as well as in the Caribbean and Mexico. It has over 700 daily flights and 8,500 crew members, serving nearly 25 million passengers per year. On September 27, 2010, Southwest Airlines announced they would acquire AirTran Airways and parent AirTran Holdings for

567-411: A hard landing at CRW. Both the captain and first officer were killed in the accident. Early reports state that the left-wing made contact with the surface of Runway 5, separated from the fuselage, and the aircraft cartwheeled left off the runway and down a heavily wooded hillside. The National Transportation Safety Board cited in its final report the causes of "the flight crew's improper decision to conduct

648-520: A major expansion at Chicago-Midway Airport by buying the leases of ATA Airlines ' 14 gates. Southwest Airlines made a higher bid for the gates, and AirTran lost the deal. In December 2006, Air Tran Holdings announced that it had been trying to acquire Midwest Air Group . On August 12, 2007, AirTran announced its attempt to purchase Midwest Airlines had expired, while TPG Capital , in partnership with Northwest Airlines , had entered into an agreement to purchase Midwest Airlines for an amount larger than

729-567: A new airport is built, replacing the old one, leaving the city's new "major" airport (or the only remaining airport) code to no longer correspond with the city's name. The original airport in Nashville, Tennessee, was built in 1936 as part of the Works Progress Administration and called Berry Field with the designation, BNA. A new facility known as Nashville International Airport was built in 1987 but still uses BNA. This

810-580: A new name. ValuJet is buying a much smaller airline, AirTran Airways, from Airways Corp. for $ 66.3 million worth of stock and taking its name." In an article in The Atlantic entitled "The Lessons of ValuJet 592," William Langewiesche presents a case in which the May 11, 1996 crash in the Florida Everglades as an example of a system accident , in which the complexity of the overall operation

891-409: A new subsidiary called Airways Corporation and placed AirTran Airways under the new subsidiary; AirTran Corporation then spun off the new Airways Corporation as an independent holding company which includes AirTran Airways. After the spun off, AirTran Corporation was renamed to Mesaba Holdings after its subsidiary Mesaba Airlines to distance itself from AirTran Airways. AirTran Corporation/Mesaba Holdings

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972-463: A safe stop about 400 feet (120 meters) short of the runway end. Both right main gear tires exploded and the fragments damaged the flaps. On March 13, 2015, a landslide below the approach to Runway 5/23 caused damage to an overrun area, although operations at the airport were largely unaffected by the damage. On May 5, 2017, an Air Cargo Carriers Short 330 , subcontracted by UPS and operating as Air Cargo Carriers Flight 1260, crashed after suffering

1053-408: A similar schedule to AirTran's former operations at CRW, but filed for bankruptcy before starting. On July 27, 2021, the airport board members voted to change the name of the airport to West Virginia International Yeager Airport following the completion of the U.S. Customs Building by the general aviation area of the airport. On March 2, 2023, it was reported that Spirit Airlines would end service to

1134-483: A synthetic rubber plant next to the airport. There were already plans for a new Charleston airport. The city started construction in 1944; the airport opened in 1947 as Kanawha Airport and American Airlines flights started in December. A terminal was built in 1950, designed by Tucker & Silling . In 1985 the airport was named for then-Brigadier General Chuck Yeager , a native of nearby Lincoln County who piloted

1215-570: A total cost of $ 1.4 billion. The acquisition gave Southwest a significant presence at many of AirTran's hubs, such as Atlanta (then the largest U.S. city without Southwest service) and Milwaukee as well as expanded service in Baltimore and Orlando . With the acquisition, Southwest added international service to several leisure destinations such as Cancún , Montego Bay , and Aruba . Southwest integrated AirTran's fleet of Boeing 737-700 series aircraft into Southwest Airlines brand and livery, and

1296-694: Is 235°. An Engineered Materials Arresting System (EMAS) was built at the end of Runway 5 to act as an equivalent to a 1,000 ft. runway safety area, as required by the FAA. Yeager's secondary runway 15/33, now taxiway C, was headed 335° and was 4,750 feet (1,450 m) long. It was mostly used by general aviation. In the year ending November 30, 2022 the airport had 38,083 aircraft operations, an average of 104 per day: 63% general aviation , 13% air taxi , 15% military, and 9% airline. In November 2022, 66 aircraft were based at this airport: 31 single-engine, 6 multi-engine, 4 jet, 17 helicopter , and 8 military. In 2021

1377-509: Is GSN and its IATA code is SPN, and some coincide with IATA codes of non-U.S. airports. Canada's unusual codes—which bear little to no similarity with any conventional abbreviation to the city's name—such as YUL in Montréal , and YYZ in Toronto , originated from the two-letter codes used to identify weather reporting stations in the 1930s. The letters preceding the two-letter code follow

1458-617: Is available. However, many railway administrations have their own list of codes for their stations, such as the list of Amtrak station codes . Airport codes arose out of the convenience that the practice brought pilots for location identification in the 1930s. Initially, pilots in the United States used the two-letter code from the National Weather Service (NWS) for identifying cities. This system became unmanageable for cities and towns without an NWS identifier, and

1539-523: Is different from the name in English, yet the airport code represents only the English name. Examples include: Due to scarcity of codes, some airports are given codes with letters not found in their names: The use of 'X' as a filler letter is a practice to create three-letter identifiers when more straightforward options were unavailable: Some airports in the United States retained their NWS ( National Weather Service ) codes and simply appended an X at

1620-671: Is governed by IATA Resolution 763, and it is administered by the IATA's headquarters in Montreal , Canada. The codes are published semi-annually in the IATA Airline Coding Directory. IATA provides codes for airport handling entities, and for certain railway stations. Alphabetical lists of airports sorted by IATA code are available. A list of railway station codes , shared in agreements between airlines and rail lines such as Amtrak , SNCF , and Deutsche Bahn ,

1701-513: Is in conjunction to rules aimed to avoid confusion that seem to apply in the United States, which state that "the first and second letters or second and third letters of an identifier may not be duplicated with less than 200 nautical miles separation." Thus, Washington, D.C. area's three airports all have radically different codes: IAD for Washington–Dulles , DCA for Washington–Reagan (District of Columbia Airport), and BWI for Baltimore (Baltimore–Washington International, formerly BAL). Since HOU

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1782-543: Is not followed outside the United States: In addition, since three letter codes starting with Q are widely used in radio communication, cities whose name begins with "Q" also had to find alternate codes, as in the case of: IATA codes should not be confused with the FAA identifiers of U.S. airports. Most FAA identifiers agree with the corresponding IATA codes, but some do not, such as Saipan , whose FAA identifier

1863-466: Is unclear. It is claimed that Destination Sun was established in 1991 by former Northeastern International Airways CEO Guy Lindley and that the airline was formerly known as SunExpress and based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida . Another source claimed that Destination Sun was established in 1990 by a bunch of pilots that are presumably ex- Eastern Air Lines pilots since it was claimed later on by

1944-416: Is used for William P. Hobby Airport , the new Houston–Intercontinental became IAH. The code BKK was originally assigned to Bangkok–Don Mueang and was later transferred to Suvarnabhumi Airport , while the former adopted DMK. The code ISK was originally assigned to Gandhinagar Airport (Nashik's old airport) and later on transferred to Ozar Airport (Nashik's current airport). Shanghai–Hongqiao retained

2025-474: The Boeing 717-200 fleet was then leased out to Delta Air Lines starting in mid-2013. The airlines planned to have the acquisition completed and finalized within two years, with the two carriers operating as separate airlines in the interim. The deal closed on May 2, 2011, and a single operating certificate for the combined carrier was achieved on March 1, 2012. Total integration of all employee groups between

2106-571: The Canadian transcontinental railroads were built, each station was assigned its own two-letter Morse code : When the Canadian government established airports, it used the existing railway codes for them as well. If the airport had a weather station, authorities added a "Y" to the front of the code, meaning "Yes" to indicate it had a weather station or some other letter to indicate it did not. When international codes were created in cooperation with

2187-577: The Marshall University 's Bill Noe Flight School was founded at the West Virginia Yeager International Airport. The school, named after the former COO of NetJets, Bill Noe, features a 12,000 sq ft. academic building, a hangar, and an aircraft parking apron. During World War II, Charleston's airport, Wertz Field , closed when the airport's approaches were blocked by the federal government building

2268-696: The Minneapolis -based Mesaba Airlines , an operating carrier for Northwest Airlines 's Northwest Airlink that had hubs in Minneapolis and Detroit . After the purchase, the airline was renamed from Conquest Sun Airlines to AirTran Airways to reflect the name of the holding company. The airline moved its headquarters to Orlando and grew to 11 Boeing 737 aircraft, serving 24 cities in the Eastern and Midwestern United States, providing low-fare leisure travel to Orlando. In 1995, AirTran Corporation created

2349-528: The United States that operated from 1993 until it merged with Southwest Airlines in 2014. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida , AirTran Airways was established in 1993 as Conquest Sun Airlines by the management of two small airlines, Destination Sun Airways and Conquest Airlines , with Conquest Airlines co-founder Victor Rivas being heavily involved in the establishment of Conquest Sun. The airline

2430-543: The West Virginia Air National Guard 's 130th Airlift Wing (130 AW), an Air Mobility Command (AMC)-gained unit of the West Virginia Air National Guard . The airport sits on a hilltop over 300 feet (about 100 m) above the valleys of the Elk and Kanawha Rivers, and the hill drops off sharply on all sides. Arriving passengers enjoy a view of downtown Charleston or the rolling hills north and east of

2511-581: The AirTran Airways' proposal. However, on August 14, 2007, AirTran increased its offer to the equivalent of $ 16.25 a share, slightly more than the $ 16 a share from TPG Capital investors group. However, Midwest announced TPG would increase its offer to $ 17 per share and a definitive agreement had been reached late on August 16, 2007. On September 21, 2007, AirTran pilots, represented by the National Pilots Association, rejected

Yeager Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue

2592-455: The AirTran fleet maxed at the following aircraft: In addition, AirTran's 717 fleet included the first and last 717 ever built. AirTran Airways operated a two-class configuration featuring Business Class and Economy Class. Business class included rows 1–3 and economy began with row 10; rows 4–9 were skipped for numbering purposes and 13 was skipped due to superstition . AirTran's livery

2673-595: The AirTran management that the establishment of AirTran involved former Eastern Air Lines employees. Meanwhile, Conquest Airlines was founded by Rafael Rivas and Victor Rivas in April 1988 in Texas . Victor Rivas, co-founder of Conquest Airlines, was also heavily involved in the establishment of Conquest Sun Airlines. In 1994, the airline was purchased by the AirTran Corporation, which was the holding company of

2754-470: The AirTran name: AirTran Airways and AirTran Airlines (formerly ValuJet Airlines). AirTran Holdings retained ValuJet's stock price history. The AirTran name was chosen by the merged airline's management in hopes of distancing itself from the troubled ValuJet past. AirTran Holdings moved its headquarters to the AirTran Airways headquarters in Orlando on January 28, 1998, while ValuJet's Atlanta hub remained

2835-577: The Board of Directors until June 2008. Upon his retirement, Fornaro then became chairman making him chairman, president and CEO. In 2009, AirTran was the first major airline to have 100% of its fleet outfitted with Gogo Inflight Internet , although other airlines had begun adding Internet before AirTran. By 2009, AirTran underwent major expansion in smaller cities such as Yeager Airport (Charleston, W.V.); Asheville Regional Airport , N.C.; and Harrisburg International Airport , Pa. In 2004, AirTran sought

2916-584: The SOC, and a maintenance facility in addition to passengers operations at the airport. After considering putting the SOC Center in Atlanta, where AirTran has their largest hub, the decision was made to expand the facility in Orlando adjacent to AirTran's headquarters. In October 2010, a new crew base opened at Orlando International Airport in Orlando, Florida . The base initially employed 100 pilots, including

2997-474: The U.S. For example, several airports in Alaska have scheduled commercial service, such as Stebbins and Nanwalek , which use FAA codes instead of ICAO codes. Thus, neither system completely includes all airports with scheduled service. Some airports are identified in colloquial speech by their IATA code. Examples include LAX and JFK . AirTran Airways AirTran Airways was a low-cost airline in

3078-481: The United States, because "Y" was seldom used in the United States, Canada simply used the weather station codes for its airports, changing the "Y" to a "Z" if it conflicted with an airport code already in use. The result is that most major Canadian airport codes start with "Y" followed by two letters in the city's name (for example, YOW for O tta w a , YWG for W innipe g , YYC for C algar y , or YVR for V ancouve r ), whereas other Canadian airports append

3159-497: The ValuJet legacy. Even though AirTran Airways was the surviving airline with its absorption of the former ValuJet Airlines which ended its operations as AirTran Airlines, ValuJet Airlines was the nominal corporate survivor of the merger. ValuJet's management team ran the merged airline, and all SEC filings prior to 1997 were under ValuJet, not AirTran. Adding to the confusion, AirTran management did not put an effort into explaining

3240-436: The accident on an "unrecognized loss of altitude orientation during the final portion of an approach into shallow, dense fog." The disorientation was caused by a rapid reduction in the ground guidance segment available to the pilot at a point beyond which a go-around could be successfully effected. On July 13, 2009, Southwest Airlines Flight 2294 from Nashville International Airport to Baltimore-Washington International Airport

3321-471: The aircraft due to ineffective braking. During the maneuver the Constellation skidded down a steep embankment and caught fire. One crewmember and one passenger died out of 44 on board. On August 10, 1968, Piedmont Airlines Flight 230 was on an ILS localizer-only approach to runway 23 when it struck trees 360 feet from the runway threshold. The aircraft continued and struck up-sloping terrain short of

Yeager Airport - Misplaced Pages Continue

3402-487: The airline's overall financial performance and the importance of achieving high levels of customer service and efficiency. When the acquisition by Southwest was announced, AirTran served 69 destinations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and abroad. AirTran did not participate in any major global airline alliances , but it had a codeshare agreement with Frontier in 2008, followed by its parent airline, Southwest Airlines . Prior to being acquired by Southwest ,

3483-440: The airport itself instead of the city it serves, while another code is reserved which refers to the city itself which can be used to search for flights to any of its airports. For instance: Or using a code for the city in one of the major airports and then assigning another code to another airport: When different cities with the same name each have an airport, they need to be assigned different codes. Examples include: Sometimes,

3564-526: The airport on May 4, 2023. Later in March 2023, it was reported that Breeze Airways would begin low-cost, non-stop flight service to Orlando, Florida and Charleston, South Carolina, with additional flights to New York City and the West Coast beginning over the next two years. On May 12, 1959, Capital Airlines Flight 983, a Lockheed L-049 Constellation touched down and landed and the captain groundlooped

3645-448: The airport to triple the general aviation area's hangar space and create room for off-runway businesses, and provide parking for up to ten additional commercial airliners. $ 5 million was given to the airport to build a canopy around the front of the terminal. An additional $ 2 million was given for a covered walkway from the terminal to the parking garage. On June 25, 2009, AirTran Airways began service from Charleston to Orlando . AirTran

3726-418: The airport's former name, such as Orlando International Airport 's MCO (for Mc C o y Air Force Base), or Chicago's O'Hare International Airport , which is coded ORD for its original name: Or char d Field. In rare cases, the code comes from the airport's unofficial name, such as Kahului Airport 's OGG (for local aviation pioneer Jimmy H ogg ). In large metropolitan areas, airport codes are often named after

3807-467: The balance sheet and prepare to refinance debt due in early 2000, fix the operations, increase and establish revenue streams and prepare for delivery and operation of the Boeing 717 . AirTran was the launch customer and ultimately the largest operator of this brand new aircraft. At the same time, Leonard was determined to not only lead the turn around of the carrier, but establish a culture of trust and entrepreneurship at AirTran. In 1999, AirTran reported

3888-470: The carrier's contract proposal. Two weeks earlier, the pilots voted to dump the union president and vice president. On April 10, 2009, 87% of the pilots at AirTran voted to merge the National Pilots Association with the world's largest pilot union, Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). On April 6, 2010, AirTran Airways opened their second crew base, at General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee,

3969-502: The code SHA, while the newer Shanghai–Pudong adopted PVG. The opposite was true for Berlin : the airport Berlin–Tegel used the code TXL, while its smaller counterpart Berlin–Schönefeld used SXF; the Berlin Brandenburg Airport has the airport code BER, which is also part of its branding. The airports of Hamburg (HAM) and Hannover (HAJ) are less than 100 nautical miles (190 km) apart and therefore share

4050-511: The correct history of AirTran thoroughly. The AirTran airline operation received criticism for the name change with Time magazine writing, "In a corporate disappearing act, the troubled airline bought a smaller rival and adopted its name, becoming AirTran Airways." The Los Angeles Times wrote in the Summer of 1997, "After more than a year of reminding too many people of a disaster rather than low fares, ValuJet on Thursday said it would take

4131-934: The end. Examples include: A lot of minor airfields without scheduled passenger traffic have ICAO codes but not IATA codes, since the four letter codes allow more number of codes, and IATA codes are mainly used for passenger services such as tickets, and ICAO codes by pilots. In the US, such airfields use FAA codes instead of ICAO. There are airports with scheduled service for which there are ICAO codes but not IATA codes, such as Nkhotakota Airport/Tangole Airport in Malawi or Chōfu Airport in Tokyo, Japan. There are also several minor airports in Russia (e.g., Omsukchan Airport ) which lack IATA codes and instead use internal Russian codes for booking. Flights to these airports cannot be booked through

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4212-587: The field. Federal Aviation Administration records show 225,150 passenger enplanements in calendar year 2015, a decrease of 6.8% from the 241,566 enplanements in 2014. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021 categorized it as a non-hub primary commercial service facility. West Virginia International Yeager Airport covers 767 acres (310 hectares) at an elevation of 947 feet (289 m) above mean sea level . It has one asphalt runway , 5/23, 6,715 by 150 feet (2,047 by 46 metres). Runway 5/23's heading

4293-557: The first three letters of the city in which it is located, for instance: The code may also be a combination of the letters in its name, such as: Sometimes the airport code reflects pronunciation, rather than spelling, namely: For many reasons, some airport codes do not fit the normal scheme described above. Some airports, for example, cross several municipalities or regions, and therefore, use codes derived from some of their letters, resulting in: Other airports—particularly those serving cities with multiple airports—have codes derived from

4374-478: The following format: Most large airports in Canada have codes that begin with the letter "Y", although not all "Y" codes are Canadian (for example, YUM for Yuma, Arizona , and YNT for Yantai , China), and not all Canadian airports start with the letter "Y" (for example, ZBF for Bathurst, New Brunswick ). Many Canadian airports have a code that starts with W, X or Z, but none of these are major airports. When

4455-597: The form of " YYZ ", a song by the rock band Rush , which utilizes the Morse code signal as a musical motif. Some airports have started using their IATA codes as brand names , such as Calgary International Airport (YYC) and Vancouver International Airport (YVR). Numerous New Zealand airports use codes that contain the letter Z, to distinguish them from similar airport names in other countries. Examples include HLZ for Hamilton , ZQN for Queenstown , and WSZ for Westport . Predominantly, airport codes are named after

4536-494: The front on either side in teal above the passenger windows and the vertical stabilizer was teal with a prominent white cursive "A," just like the beginning of the logo. AirTran Airways also created several special livery aircraft. They included an aircraft featuring Elton John and Danica Patrick . AirTran also partnered with the Orlando/Orange County CVB to create a Boeing 717 aircraft emblazoned with

4617-435: The headquarters were in Minneapolis, Minnesota . AirTran adopted an approach to employee recruitment similar to Southwest Airlines, with an emphasis on functional skills and relational competence. The airline had clear job specialization with the expectation of flexibility between jobs as required by day-to-day operational circumstances. AirTran's training approach involved drawing the link between individual job performance,

4698-446: The hub for the combined AirTran Airways/Airlines operation. In April 1998, AirTran Holdings transferred all of AirTran Airlines' fleet and operations to AirTran Airways and canceled AirTran Airlines' FAA certificate. AirTran Airways now became the only airline operator for AirTran Holdings and AirTran Airlines became an inactive subsidiary of AirTran Holdings. In August 1999, AirTran Airlines was merged into AirTran Airways, legally ending

4779-518: The integration would be completed on December 28, 2014, with AirTran Airways Flight 1 as the final scheduled departure for the airline, flying with a Boeing 717-200 (N717JL) from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Tampa International Airport (TPA). The flight used the callsign "Critter" as a nod to ValuJet. This route and flight number had been ValuJet's first flight. Prior to its acquisition, AirTran's corporate headquarters were located in Orlando, Florida . Prior to 1994,

4860-487: The international air booking systems or have international luggage transferred there, and thus, they are booked instead through the airline or a domestic booking system. Several heliports in Greenland have 3-letter codes used internally which might be IATA codes for airports in faraway countries. There are several airports with scheduled service that have not been assigned ICAO codes that do have IATA codes, especially in

4941-612: The name of the airport itself, for instance: This is also true with some cities with a single airport (even if there is more than one airport in the metropolitan area of said city), such as BDL for Hartford, Connecticut 's B ra dl ey International Airport or Baltimore's BWI, for B altimore/ W ashington I nternational Airport ; however, the latter also serves Washington, D.C. , alongside Dulles International Airport (IAD, for I nternational A irport D ulles) and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA, for D istrict of C olumbia A irport). The code also sometimes comes from

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5022-416: The one they are located in: Other airport codes are of obscure origin, and each has its own peculiarities: In Asia, codes that do not correspond with their city's names include Niigata 's KIJ , Nanchang 's KHN and Pyongyang 's FNJ . EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg , which serves three countries, has three airport codes: BSL, MLH, EAP. Some cities have a name in their respective language which

5103-484: The runway following a rejected take-off at 16:13 local time (21:13 UTC). The aircraft was stopped by the EMAS at the end of the runway, sustaining substantial damage to its undercarriage. On February 8, 2010, a Freedom Airlines Embraer ERJ-145 on Flight 6121 to Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport on behalf of Delta Air Lines with 46 passengers and three crew, rejected takeoff from Charleston at high speed and came to

5184-430: The runway in a nose-down attitude. The aircraft continued up the hill and onto the airport, coming to rest 6 feet beyond the threshold and 50 feet from the right edge of the runway. A layer of dense fog was obscuring the runway threshold and about half of the approach lights. Visual conditions existed outside the fog area. All three crew members and 32 of the 34 passengers died. The National Transportation Safety Board blamed

5265-524: The same day they officially announced Milwaukee as their second hub. On July 27, 2010, AirTran Airways hosted the grand opening of their new System Operations Control (SOC) Center at Orlando International Airport. This 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m ), $ 6.9 million, state-of-the-art command center served as the 24-hour nerve center for the entire airline with over 700 flights per day. The company employed more than 1,000 crew members in central Florida at several facilities, including their corporate headquarters,

5346-506: The same first and middle letters, indicating that this rule might be followed only in Germany. Many cities retain historical names in their airport codes, even after having undergone an official name/spelling/transliteration change: Some airport codes are based on previous names associated with a present airport, often with a military heritage. These include: Some airports are named for an administrative division or nearby city, rather than

5427-500: The station code of Malton, Mississauga , where it is located). YUL is used for Montréal–Trudeau (UL was the ID code for the beacon in the city of Kirkland , now the location of Montréal–Trudeau). While these codes make it difficult for the public to associate them with a particular Canadian city, some codes have become popular in usage despite their cryptic nature, particularly at the largest airports. Toronto's code has entered pop culture in

5508-546: The tenth anniversary of the Flight 592 crash, AirTran made no major corporate announcements out of respect for the victims' families. In January 1999, a new management team led by Joe Leonard, a veteran of Eastern Air Lines , and Robert L. Fornaro , of US Airways , took the reins at the airline. The two recruited a new senior management team, including Stephen J. Kolski, Operations, Kevin P. Healy, Planning, and Loral Blinde, Human Resources. The immediate goals were to stabilize

5589-499: The two carriers was completed in 2015. On February 14, 2013, Southwest Airlines announced that they had begun codesharing with AirTran. They took the first step on January 25, 2013 by launching shared itineraries in five markets. Southwest continued launching shared itineraries with 39 more markets beginning February 25, 2013. By April 2013, shared itineraries were scheduled to be available in all Southwest and AirTran cities (both domestic and international). Southwest announced that

5670-515: The two-letter code of the radio beacons that were the closest to the actual airport, such as YQX in Gander or YXS in Prince George . Four of the ten provincial capital airports in Canada have ended up with codes beginning with YY, including: Canada's largest airport is YYZ for Toronto Pearson (as YTZ was already allocated to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport , the airport was given

5751-529: The use of two letters allowed only a few hundred combinations; a three-letter system of airport codes was implemented. This system allowed for 17,576 permutations, assuming all letters can be used in conjunction with each other. Since the U.S. Navy reserved "N" codes, and to prevent confusion with Federal Communications Commission broadcast call signs , which begin with "W" or "K", the airports of certain U.S. cities whose name begins with one of these letters had to adopt "irregular" airport codes: This practice

5832-554: The world's first supersonic flight in the Bell X-1 . In 1986 the terminal was renovated. Concourse C, designed by L. Robert Kimball and Associates and costing $ 2.8 million, was completed in 2001. On February 27, 2008, CRW's Governing Board voted to close the secondary runway, Rwy 15/33, to allow construction of two new hangars and ramp space for four more C-130s to be based at the Air National Guard facility. It will allow

5913-812: Was finally renamed to MAIR Holdings , which was finally dissolved in July 2012. On July 10, 1997, ValuJet, Inc., the parent company of the struggling ValuJet Airlines , entered into an agreement to acquire AirTran Airways and its parent Airways Corporation. After the crashes of ValuJet Flight 597 and ValuJet Flight 592 , ValuJet suffered due to the perception of a lax safety culture, putting its business in jeopardy. ValuJet purchased Airways Corporation on November 17, 1997. On that date, AirTran Airways and its parent Airways Corporation became subsidiaries of ValuJet. The ValuJet holding company changed its name to AirTran Holdings, Inc. and renamed ValuJet Airlines to AirTran Airlines. AirTran Holdings then operated two airlines with

5994-550: Was forced to divert to West Virginia International Yeager Airport in Charleston, West Virginia after a hole formed on the top of the plane's fuselage near the tail, resulting in depressurization of the cabin and deployment of the oxygen masks. The Boeing 737-3H4 with 133 passengers and crew landed safely. On January 19, 2010, PSA Airlines Canadair CRJ-200 N246PS on Flight 2495 to Charlotte, North Carolina on behalf of US Airways with 30 passengers and three crew, overran

6075-404: Was primarily white, with teal on the ventral side. The sections were divided by parallel red and pink stripes, which ran horizontal at the front and started to curve upward at the wings until they reached the top side of the plane at the back of the vertical stabilizer. The nacelles were royal blue, with "airtran.com" written in white Helvetica font. The logo version of "AirTran" was written toward

6156-607: Was purchased by the AirTran Corporation in 1994 and was renamed to AirTran Airways. The airline was later spun off under the new Airways Corporation holding company by the AirTran Corporation. The airline and the Airways Corporation holding company was purchased in 1997 by the ValuJet holding company, which owned the struggling ValuJet Airlines. The ValuJet holding company became known as AirTran Holdings and merged ValuJet Airlines into AirTran Airways. ValuJet Airlines

6237-562: Was renamed "AirTran Airlines" before it was merged into AirTran Airways. AirTran Airways and parent AirTran Holdings were acquired by Southwest Airlines on May 2, 2011 and gradually integrated, with AirTran's final revenue flight operating on December 28, 2014. AirTran operated nearly 700 daily flights, primarily in the eastern and midwestern United States , with its principal hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport , where it operated nearly 200 daily departures. AirTran's fleet consisted of Boeing 717-200 aircraft, of which it

6318-594: Was retired, leaving it with a fleet of more than 70 Boeing 717-200s . Shortly after, the first Boeing 737-700 entered AirTran's fleet in June 2004. In August 2004, AirTran JetConnect (operated by Air Wisconsin) ceased all operations. On May 23, 2006, AirTran accepted one of the last two Boeing 717s delivered in a ceremony with Midwest Airlines , who accepted the other 717. Boeing closed the 717 line due to poor sales. In November 2007, Robert L. Fornaro took over as CEO, as well as president. Joe Leonard remained chairman of

6399-527: Was the first low-cost airline at CRW since Independence Air left years before. AirTran used the Boeing 717-200 until June 3, 2012, when AirTran's last flight departed from CRW. On March 3, 2011, Spirit Airlines began flights to Fort Lauderdale and on May 5, 2011, Spirit started seasonal flights between Charleston and Myrtle Beach . On June 10, 2012, Spirit ended service to Fort Lauderdale, leaving seasonal service to Myrtle Beach. People Express Airlines planned service to Orlando International Airport, on

6480-659: Was the major contributing factor. Taking a contrary position, Brian Stimpson argues in the Manitoba Professional Engineer that there are other examples of studied complex operations which have been routinely performed safely for many years, with such examples including large aircraft carriers and the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station in California. AirTran made almost no mention of its ValuJet past. However, on

6561-418: Was the world's largest operator, and Boeing 737-700 aircraft. AirTran Airways was founded in 1993 as Conquest Sun Airlines and began operations as a start up Boeing 737-200 operator with service to and from Orlando . AirTran Airways was established by both the management of Destination Sun Airways and the management of regional airline Conquest Airlines . The establishment of Destination Sun Airways

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