As air travel becomes more accessible and affordable to members of the general public, many American airlines have built up a loyal customer base by offering passengers low-cost flights that are consistently cheap and cheerful. One such company is American Trans Air. Now operating under the official name of ATA Airlines Inc., the company offers its cheap travel rates from its headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The main focus of the company’s business is on domestic flights to states across America and Hawaii, as well as international charter flights around the world for commercial passengers and military operations alike. The main travel destinations that the airline gives weight to are the Oakland International Airport, the Honolulu International Airport in Hawaii and the Chicago Midway International Airport.

Trans Air is controlled by the parent company known as Global Aero Logistics Inc., which recently underwent a change of name from its former title of New ATA Holdings Inc. Global Aero Logistics also recently bought out World Air Holdings Inc. for the grand total of three hundred and fifteen million US dollars. The transaction was unusually conducted via cash only exchange with the financial aid and backing of the Matlin Patterson investment banking firm. This was no small event, since World Air Holdings Inc. operates and claims ownership of both World Airways and North American Airlines as two individually certified United States air carriers.

ATA is now in fact, officially shut down, but until this event it was the largest charter airline in North America. As such, it was the airline that transported the largest amount of United States Military troops out of all of the American airlines to do so. Whilst the company is now technically defunct, the Trans Air brand continues to be a considerably lucrative source of income for its owners.

The brand was bought up by another low-cost airline; Southwest Airlines. Southwest now maintains and owns all of the assets and all of the operating certificates that where held by the ATA Airlines company. This is extended to logos, trademarks, and fleet aircraft owned by ATA before it was forced to file for bankruptcy and continued to operate with official bankruptcy protection. The entire deal was completed for the relatively small sum of seven and a half million dollars. The brand is now a main focus of Global Aero Logistics, and is now once again providing budget travel for the general public of America.