AirTran Flies Its Last Flight

The small, low-cost airline known as AirTran flew its last flight late last year, and is now officially part of Southwest Airlines.

Fans of AirTran clamored to be on the last flight, from Atlanta to Tampa, with 800 people adding their names to the standby list. The crew were all smiles, especially since they've all joined Southwest; there were no layoffs as part of the merger.

AirTran is the former ValuJet, which suffered a devastating crash in 1998, with a plane plummeting into the Florida Everglades and killing all on board. The airline toughened safety standards, changed its name, and rebounded.

AirTran flight attendant Tana Thomas told Marketwatch the corporate culture of AirTran and Southwest matched pretty perfectly:,“I see their scrappiness being one and the same."