Airtran 2009 Annual Report Download - page 34

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of our licensed technologies and outsourced system operations; however, in the event that one or more of our
primary technology or systems' vendors goes into bankruptcy, ceases operation or fails to perform as promised,
replacement services may not be readily available at competitive rates, or at all. We seek to minimize our
vendor risk through a vendor oversight and quality control process that we believe is among the best in the
industry. We regularly review the risk profiles of all of our major vendors and assess the criticality of their
products and services to our business. We have implemented redundant systems, disaster recovery programs, or
contingency plans for all of principal outsourced systems. We also require computer code escrow arrangements
for all of our major systems which would allow us to operate key systems in the event of a vendor failure.
Despite our initiatives, plans, and procedures, such measures may not be adequate or implemented properly or
sufficiently to prevent business disruption.
Despite our plans, programs, and procedures, we may be vulnerable to external interruption in technology
infrastructure on which we are dependent, whether due to large-scale events, such as natural disasters or
directed actions, including terrorist attacks and system security attacks seeking to compromise or obtain
financial data, infect systems with computer viruses or impair or disrupt functionality through denial of
services.
Any individual, sustained, or repeated failure or compromise of our technologies and automated systems could
result in the loss of or a failure to capture data, negatively affect our customer service, result in increased costs
and expenses, or generally cause harm to our business.
If we incur problems with any of our third party airport services providers, our operations could be adversely
affected by a resulting decline in revenue or negative public perception about our services.
Ground handling services are provided to us by third parties at 35 airports. Our reliance on third party service
providers will continue in the foreseeable future and may result in the relative inability to control the efficiency
and timeliness of all of our outsourced ground handling operations. Although we do not anticipate any material
problems with the efficiency and timeliness of our existing contract services, problems in connection with such
third party services could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of
operations.
If we lose key senior management or are unable to attract and retain the talent required for our business, our
operating results could suffer.
Our performance depends largely on the efforts and abilities of our members of senior management. These
executives have substantial experience and expertise in our business and have made significant contributions to
our growth and success. Although we have, or are implementing, emergency and long term succession policies,
an unexpected loss of services of one or more of members of senior management or the failure to develop,
train, and retain qualified personnel could have an adverse effect on our business. Further, as our business
continues to grow, we will need to attract and retain, and manage an increasing number of management-level
employees. We cannot assure you that we will always be able to do so.
Our ability to utilize net operating loss carry-forwards may be limited.
At December 31, 2009, we had estimated net operating loss carry-forwards (“NOLs”) of $477.5 million for
federal income tax purposes that expire between 2017 and 2029. Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code
(“Section 382”) imposes limitations on a corporation’s ability to utilize NOLs if it experiences an “ownership
change.” In general terms, an ownership change may result from transactions increasing the ownership of
certain stockholders in the stock of a corporation by more than 50 percentage points over a three-year period. In