ATA Ending Service at Newark Liberty
By Richard Newman, The Record, Hackensack, N.J.
Oct. 18–ATA Airlines will pull out of Newark Liberty International Airport on Oct. 29, ending four daily flights to its hub in Chicago, a spokeswoman confirmed Monday.
The departure of the low-fare carrier will also sever Southwest Airlines’ tenuous links to Newark. Southwest has a code-sharing agreement that allows travelers to book flights with Southwest and fly on ATA from Newark to Chicago, where they can switch to Southwest to continue their trip. Southwest is the largest discount carrier in the United States.
Low-fare carriers such as ATA, Spirit and Delta Song have all had trouble sticking in Newark. As a result, Newark air travelers pay more to fly to many cities than they would pay at either La Guardia, JFK or Philadelphia, where the low-cost competition is stronger.
Continental Airlines controls more than 60 percent of traffic at Newark. And other big carriers with comparatively high operating costs — American, Delta, United and Northwest — together control more than 15 percent.
However, JetBlue Airways launched its first flights to Florida from Newark this month, promising more competition and lower fares to Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers.
A spokesman for the Port Authority said ATA Airlines ranks 14th in market share of passengers at Newark, and isn’t large enough to have much of an impact on prices.
“We were happy to have their service while we did, but the void will certainly be filled by other carriers,” said the spokesman, Marc LaVorgna.
LaVorgna said he doesn’t think ticket prices to Chicago will go up when ATA leaves. Continental, United and American all fly to the city from Newark.
ATA said it is finding flights with other carriers for those booked for travel between Oct. 29 and Jan. 9. Those with tickets to fly after Jan. 9 will get refunds.
It could not be learned Monday which airline or airlines might take over ATA’s slots at Newark.
ATA’s parent company, ATA Holding Corp., has been operating in Chapter 11 for a year and has cut its workforce by 3,000 in the past two years.
The latest service cuts will result in about 100 layoffs, the company has said. ATA is also cutting flights between Boston and Chicago this month and has dropped plans to begin service from Chicago to Miami and Sarasota.
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