Airtran 1999 Annual Report Download - page 14

Increase in Travel Agent Business
In addition to increases in Internet travel purchases,
AirTran Airways’ bookings via travel agents have increased
from eight percent of total bookings in 1997 to 40.4
percent in the fourth quarter 1999. This substantial
jump is due in large part to our continued efforts to
meet the needs of the business traveler and to increase
our volume of corporate business.
In the past few years, we’ve added a Business Class
any business can afford, an innovative A-Plus Rewards®
program and even assigned seating, where the best
customers get the best seats. In 1999, we actively
focused on obtaining more corporate business, as
evidenced by our growth in corporate agreements, and
will continue to maintain that focus throughout 2000.
To that end, AirTran Airways joined the four major
CRS (computer reservation system) vendors so that
our product is now displayed in all travel agencies, thus
making it easier for our product to be sold.
In late 1999, we further enhanced our relationship with
travel agents by allowing them to book travel for their
clients online at airtran.com. By booking on airtran.com,
agencies and corporations deal directly with AirTran
Airways, thus reducing our distribution costs, as there
are neither ticketing nor CRS fees. By allowing travel
agents to book reservations directly on our Web site,
AirTran Airways saves money, allowing us to pass
savings along to our customers.
Through this system, travel may be booked in all
classes, and, most importantly, all fares booked
through the travel agent section are eligible for the
standard travel agent commission.
Our efforts did not go unnoticed. We are proud to
have been named the “Best Domestic Airline” by the
Southeast chapter of the American Society of Travel
Agents (ASTA) at the 1999 ASTA World Congress in
Strasbourg, France.
NEW GATES IN ATLANTA
Our success in Atlanta is obvious, as we have already
outgrown our original 18 gates. Since some of our current
gates were designed for wide-body aircraft, we were able
to innovatively reconfigure our space more efficiently
in order to include four new gates, bringing us to a total
of 22 gates on the same real estate footprint.
INVESTOR RELATIONS ON THE WEB
With our solid financial and operational foundation,
our investor base has increased. Therefore, it is a high
priority for us to provide current and potential investors
with easily accessible information about our company.
We upgraded our investor pages on our Web site
to include the following areas of shareholder-related
information:
• Corporate overview, including contact information and
a listing of AirTran Airways’ leadership team and board
of directors
• Transfer agent information for stock certificates
• Current stock quote, with a maximum 15-minute delay
• Historical stock chart, with comparative charting
versus the major market indices
• Financial fundamentals, including current financial
information such as: current pricing, income statement,
shares outstanding, price earnings, shareholdings,
ratios, dividend information and growth rates
• Consensus earning estimates from First Call
• SEC filings provided with greater timeliness than the
sec.gov site
• Frequently asked questions to address basic
shareholder and/or investor inquiries about
AirTran Holdings, Inc.
• Links for easy access to other areas of AirTran
Airways’ homepage
• Financial news releases
We were also one of the first airlines to broadcast
our earnings via a conference call over our Web site.
Investor Relations pages, postings and broadcasts on
our Web site are maintained by CCBN.com of Boston,
Massachusetts. In addition, we created a special
section on our Web site dedicated to the Boeing 717
in order to keep up with the demand for information.
Share of Atlanta
Departures as of
March 2000