Special Situations/Distressed • Airlines

Southwest Acquires ATA Airlines

On December 21, 2008, Southwest acquired airliner ATA Airlines for 8M USD

Acquisition Context

This is Southwest’s 2nd transaction in the Airlines sector.
This is Southwest’s 4th largest (disclosed) transaction.
This is Southwest’s 3rd transaction in the United States.
This is Southwest’s 1st transaction in Indiana.

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M&A Deal Summary
Date	December 21, 2008
Target	ATA Airlines
Sector	Airlines
Buyer(s)	Southwest
Deal Type	Special Situations/Distressed
Deal Value	8M USD

Target Company

ATA Airlines

Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

ATA Airlines was a discount airline that operated primarily in the East Coast of the US. It was formed in 1973 and went bankrupt in 2008.

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Buyer Overview 1

Buyer

Southwest

Dallas, Texas, United States

Category	Company
Founded	1967
Sector	Airlines
Employees	72,450
Revenue	27.5B USD (2024)

DESCRIPTION

Entrance to Southwest's corporate headquarters in Dallas, Texas.

Southwest is a discount airline serving the US market. Southwest serves more then 100 destinations in 40+ states, the District of Columbia, the Puerto Rico, and five near-international countries via wholly owned subsidiary, AirTran Airways. Southwest was formed in 1967 and is based in Dallas, Texas.

Deal Context for Buyer	#
Overall	3 of 5
Sector: Airlines	2 of 3
Type: Special Situations/Distressed	1 of 1
State: Indiana	1 of 1
Country: United States	3 of 5
Year: 2008	1 of 1
Size (of disclosed)	4 of 4

PREVIOUS DEAL

DATE	TARGET	DEAL TYPE	VALUE
1993-12-01	Morris Air Salt Lake City, Utah, United States Morris Air was a regional discount airline based in the Western United States.	Buy	$134M

DATE

TARGET

DEAL TYPE

VALUE

1993-12-01

Morris Air

Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Morris Air was a regional discount airline based in the Western United States.

Buy

$134M

FOLLOWING DEAL

DATE	TARGET	DEAL TYPE	VALUE
2010-09-27	AirTran Airways Orlando, Florida, United States AirTran Airways is a discount airline operating in the US.	Buy	$1.4B

DATE

TARGET

DEAL TYPE

VALUE

2010-09-27

AirTran Airways

Orlando, Florida, United States

AirTran Airways is a discount airline operating in the US.

Buy

$1.4B

Explore Related M&A Activity

Airlines M&A - Special Situations/Distressed M&A Deals - Indiana M&A - United States M&A - 2008 M&A