Bidding For ATA Slots at Midway

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Nov 22, 2004 1:04PM

ATA filed for Chapter 11 protection last month and now at least 2 more discount airlines plan to bid for the gates they used at Chicago's Midway Airport. America West and Southwest (what's with the wests in airline's names?) told a federal bankruptcy court judge that the companies want to maked seperate bids for part or all of ATA.

But like 2 days ago AirTran Airways formally offered to pay almost $90 million to take over operations at all 14 of ATA's Midway gates. ATA says that AirTran was only one of 10 airlines to respond inquiries on a possible merger or sale of the Midway gates. Another low-cost carrier who's waiting to see what happens with ATA's situation is JetBlue. They want to begin flights between Chicago and New York. Awesome.

The judge says the bids must be submitted by December 10th, they'll be reviewed December 13th and on the 16th he'll pick the winner. Stay tuned!