Southwest Airlines announced that they are acquiring AirTran. Only for the second time, will there be another Boeing aircraft type other than a 737, AirTran's 717-200s. In the late 70s, Braniff loaned N406BN to Southwest, and wore WN's colors.
Southwest is also looking into converting a portion of their existing orders of 737-7H4s into the -8H4 version, and having them ETOPS-capable. There is speculation that Southwest may be ready to make a move for over-ocean flights. There also have been speculation in the past of Southwest entering the Hawai‘i market in some form. When ATA was around, Southwest did buy a portion of ATA stock, and code-shared on ATA's flights, which included flights to Hawai‘i.
The Southwest / AirTran merger website.
Trivia: another Southwest connection to Hawai‘i, Aloha Airlines once leased a 737-2H4 from Southwest in the late 70s.
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