Airtran 2001 Annual Report Download - page 7

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Continuing to build on the foundation for our sustained growth,
an
important achievement was an
agreement with Boeing which completed the refinancing of $230 million
of
the airline's outstanding debt.
This enables us to not only continue but accelerate the tremendous momentum
of
the past year and sets
the stage for even more impressive long-term growth.
Everywhere we go, AirTran Airways continues to directly affect the price of airtare
in
the
market-
keeping air travel affordable for America's traveling public
in
the cities we serve.
We
accomplish this while
continuing to improve our percentage
of
completed flights and on-time arrivals. This
is
alarge part of why
we were named Airline of the
Year
by the Southeast Chapter
of
the American Society
of
Travel
Agents for
the third consecutive
year,
as
well as Best Low
Fare
Airline of the
Year
by Entrepreneur Magazine for the
second year
in
arow.
AirTran Airways also continued to be aleader
in
airline Internet bookings, with more than half of our
reservations coming from the Internet -most of which are booked via the airline's website, airtran.com.
Booking tickets online
is
the most cost-efficient method for the airline, allowing AirTran Airways to pass the
savings on to consumers, such
as
the additional five dollars off sale fares.
Reliability and customer peace of mind are unquestionably key to our success. So it's extremely
gratifying to have received our sixth consecutive Air Maintenance Technical Diamond Certificate of
Excellence for Maintenance Training by the Federal Aviation Administration. Attaining these levels of
excellence makes
it
easy to see
how
we were able to achieve a99.2 percent flight completion factor at the
end of the
year.
Even
all
of
these accomplishments barely
go
beyond scratching the surface of what your Company
really achieved
in
2001. I've mentioned only asmall percentage of the events, balance sheet items and
other measurable accomplishments. Icould write pages more and still have left many out. At the foundation
of these achievements was asolid business plan that withstood tremendous pressure.
And yet, even
if
all
the quantifiable things were noted,
it
still wouldn't properly frame what your
Company achieved
in
2001. Idon't believe it's possible to communicate what the people of AirTran Airways
made happen, what they did
as
ateam, what they did
as
individuals. Ayear like
2001
makes hyperbole
understatement. So let me just
say,
in
2001
your Company did very well.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
March 25, 2002