The rest of the world may be in a recession, but it doesn't seem like it at AirTran Airways.
The Florida-based airline recently posted its best-ever profit after heavy losses last year and is expanding service by 13 flights to Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, where it is the second-largest discount carrier. The airline, which turned a first-quarter profit, expects to remain profitable through the rest of the year.
This all comes as people are spending less on travel because of the weak economy and other airlines are losing money, including Southwest Airlines, AirTran's biggest competitor at BWI.
AirTran executives said their good fortune is the result of heavy cost-cutting last year as it anticipated the slowdown in the economy well ahead of other airlines. Southwest and other airlines are just now looking at ways to make their businesses leaner.
"We were the first to step up and face the issue," said Bob Fornaro, the airline's chairman, chief executive officer and president.
"We sized up the situation and we were the first to take action. We took the steps and it has put us in a better position than our competition."
The airline furloughed pilots last year, discontinued unprofitable flights and offered leave to flight attendants. It also halted an aggressive expansion plan and opened up a new stream of revenue by charging extra for "ancillary" items that were once free, such as extra baggage and upgrades to business class.
AirTran also paid a penalty to get out of contracts that had it locked into paying higher fuel prices.
It has paid off so far this year with AirTran becoming one of just two of the top 10 airlines that posted a profit. Discount airline JetBlue, which recently announced it was launching service at BWI, also saw profits, as did discounter Allegiant Air, which has flights from Harrisburg, Pa., and Washington Dulles International Airport.
AirTran's load factor, which measures how full its planes are, rose to 76.3 percent in the first quarter, compared with 75.3 percent a year ago.
AirTran has been able to bring back employees and is beefing up flights at BWI as it works to turn it into a stronger hub and better position the airline to serve the Mid-Atlantic. It is adding flights to Dallas-Fort Worth, Seattle and Los Angeles, bringing its total flights at BWI from 45 to 58. It is also expanding services to Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Atlanta, cities it already serves. Some of the new flights are seasonal.
