Air Tran After 911

AirTran After 911

Management for Aeronautical Science MGMT 203

Submitted: 01 December 2012

AirTran After 911

Beginning work at AirTran on May 4 1996, this author walked into a very unique situation. At that time AirTran was called ValuJet. ValuJet was a combination of many different airline management styles. The original management group was interested in cashing in the governments deregulation of the airline industry. Starting in the Florida tourist market, ValuJet made a grand entrance into airline business. ValuJet found a niche, and it was it was a huge success. Soon after September 11th terrorist attacks, sweeping modifications came to AirTran as well as the rest airline industry. It was not business as usual, operationally things had to change. The airline industry was an easy target, and we made the job of the terrorist very easy. Things had to change, and change it did happen swiftly, frequently and drastically.

There were newly vacant gates at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Eastern Air Lines had just shut down operations. The main competition for all airlines in Atlanta was Delta. In the beginning there was a hodgepodge of many different airline employees, for the executives, pilots, mechanics, ground crew and flight attendants. The thinking was along the lines of with all the experience from all these veteran airline employees, ValuJet should operate like clockwork. Quite the contrary, in fact the different management style did not mesh. Unfortunately the training was secondary to making a profit. The airline was more concerned about making money. Training meant spending the profits that was cutting into the bottom line.

This was most evident during the major incident of ValuJet’s short history. The ValuJet crash of Flight 592 on 11 May 1996 was accident that should have never...