ATA Airlines, Inc., formerly known as American Trans Air and commonly referred to as ATA, was an American low-cost and charter airline based in Indianapolis, Indiana. ATA operated scheduled passenger flights throughout the U.S. mainland and Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Portugal as well as military and commercial charter flights around the world.
American Trans Air was founded by J. George Mikelsons in 1973 as a profit-making corporation providing the employees and aircraft for Ambassadair, a simultaneously-established non-profit air travel club. Air travel clubs were a form of low-cost air transport that avoided regulation by the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), a now-defunct Federal agency that, at the time, provided tight economic regulation of almost all US air transport. Ambassadair partially backfilled for Voyager 1000, a large Indianapolis air travel club that operated from 1965 to 1973 and had been shut by the CAB for effectively being an airline; Mikelsons had been chief pilot. Ambassadair's first flight was December 1973. In March 1981, American Trans Air become a charter airline in its own right, with Ambassadair simultaneously returning its air travel club operating authority to the Federal Aviation Administration. Ambassadair was a separately-certificated entity from American Trans Air.
In its early days, the airline flew charters on a worldwide basis and had bases in Chicago, Detroit, New York, Indianapolis, Oakland, and Milwaukee. Later, when it entered scheduled service, the airline maintained focus cities at Chicago Midway International Airport, Honolulu International Airport, and Oakland International Airport.
The airline's parent company – New ATA Holdings, Inc. (the successor to ATA Holdings Inc., which was originally known as Amtran) – later changed its name to Global Aero Logistics, Inc. and purchased World Air Holdings, Inc. for $315 million in an all-cash transaction with the financial backing of the investment firm MatlinPatterson. World Air Holdings, Inc. owned and operated North American Airlines and World Airways as two separate US-certified air carriers. ATA was North America's largest charter airline, and until its shutdown, it transported more troops for the United States military than any other commercial airline.
On April 2, 2008, ATA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. ATA then announced it was ceasing all services, effective 4:00 am EDT on Thursday, April 3, 2008, citing the unexpected loss of a major contract for its military charter business, as a subcontractor of FedEx Express, along with recent increases in jet fuel prices. Red-eye flights in the air at the time of the announcement proceeded to their destinations. Flight 4586 from Honolulu to Phoenix was the last ATA flight, departing almost two hours late at 12:10 am (HST) arriving April 3, 2008, at 8:48 am (MST).
Southwest Airlines owns and retains the operating certificate and all assets previously held by ATA Airlines including trademarks, logos, etc. These were purchased for $7.5 million by Southwest while ATA was operating under bankruptcy protection.
Voyager 1000 (ICAO: VOY, call sign: VOYAGER) was an Indianapolis air travel club, a non-profit corporation founded in October 1964 to reduce air travel costs for members. Voyager operated its first flight on February 11, 1965 to the Bahamas with its own Douglas DC-7. Until 1968, the club had only a few thousand memberships, but in that year it started to grow aggressively, reaching 17,000 memberships by 1972, each generally representing a family so total eligible travelers were far greater. Voyager advertised widely, noting flights were members only and offered cheap memberships for groups like students. Voyager had a Boeing 720, two Lockheed L-188 Electras, two DC-7s and two Martin 404s, and its own terminal at Indianapolis airport. In 1971, Voyager offered high-season flights to Europe for $219 roundtrip (about $1,800 in 2026 terms), significantly below lowest scheduled airline promotional fares of $358. In November 1971, the CAB's Bureau of Enforcement accused Voyager of running an airline. In March 1973, the full board of the CAB agreed, a ruling confirmed by a Federal appeals court, with Voyager entering receivership in November 1973.
Pilot George Mikelsons had joined Voyager 1000 in November 1965 and rose to become chief pilot. In August 1973, he resigned to form his own air travel club. He incorporated the non-profit air travel club Ambassadair (ICAO: AMS) on September 5. On September 24, he incorporated American Trans Air (ATA), a profit-making corporation that operated the club, including controlling the aircraft leased to it. Mikelsons aimed to differentiate Ambassadair from Voyager 1000 by keeping membership small and upgrading onboard service. The first operation was late December 1973 with a flight to Orlando on a Boeing 720. Ambassadair remained a single-aircraft operation until December 1978, when it added a second 720, and then in March 1980 added a Boeing 707-100. In January 1981, the CAB approved ATA for its own airline certificate (economic authority). In March 1981, Ambassadair turned in its operating certificate coincident with the Federal Aviation Administration approving ATA's operating certificate.
Operations started as a charter carrier in 1981, with a fleet of eight Boeing 707s based in Indianapolis. In 1983, American Trans Air introduced its first McDonnell Douglas DC-10, a series -10, followed in 1984 by a long range series -40. Amtran, Inc., was founded by Mikelsons in 1984 as the holding company for Ambassadair, ATA, and any future subsidiaries. The airline replaced the 707s with Boeing 727-100 trijets in 1984, and added Rolls-Royce powered Lockheed L-1011 TriStar wide body jetliners (most of which were ex-Delta Air Lines and TWA) in 1985, and Boeing 757-200s in 1989. ATA was an all charter airline flying to destinations all over the world. American Trans Air started its first scheduled service in 1986 between Indianapolis (Indianapolis International Airport), and Fort Myers, Florida (Southwest Florida International Airport).
In 1990, ATA began scheduled nonstop service using Boeing 757-200 aircraft from New York JFK Airport to Belfast, Northern Ireland, in the United Kingdom with continuing direct one stop service to Riga, Latvia. The founder of ATA is of Latvian ancestry. The Latvia service was unprofitable and was discontinued after a few years.
ATA performed services for the United States Department of Defense and US military during the 1991 Gulf War, transporting 108,000 military personnel on 494 missions for Operation Desert Storm and again during Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom with the activation of the Civil Reserve Air Fleet ("CRAF"). During these periodic activations, ATA flight crews often and routinely spent as many as 19 hours aboard ATA aircraft in support of U.S. troops and the overall national defense missions. ATA's L-1011 aircraft were also chartered by the Department of Defense to fly personnel and their families between Philadelphia International Airport and Lajes Field, Naval Air Station Sigonella, Aviano Air Base and Incirlik Air Base (called "Freedom Flights" by personnel returning to the U.S. from these overseas installations).
In February 1991, ATA won a contract for daily 727-100 shuttle operations between Nellis Air Force Base and Tonopah Test Range in Nevada. This particular contract, formerly operated by defunct Key Airlines, was awarded to ATA and ended in late 1992 when Tonopah F-117 Stealth Fighter operations ceased. The 727-100s were replaced with Boeing 727-200s in 1993. Also in 1993, according to the Official Airline Guide (OAG), ATA was operating scheduled passenger service between New York JFK Airport and Lagos, Nigeria, via a stop at Santa Maria Island in the Azores with a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar wide body jetliner.
By the mid-1990s, ATA began focusing on increasing its domestic scheduled services including Hawaii as well as international routes to Mexico and the Caribbean (based on leisure travel) and began using the slogan, "On ATA, You're on Vacation". The airline began operating a sizable hub at Chicago Midway International Airport and offered scheduled services throughout the continental United States, as well as flights to Hawaii, Mexico and the Caribbean, all while continuing extensive military and government contract air charter flights.