that Destination Sun was established in 1991 by former Northeastern International Airways CEO Guy Lindley and that the airline was formerly known as SunExpress and based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Another source claimed that Destination Sun was established in 1990 by a bunch of pilots that are presumably ex-Eastern Air Lines pilots since it was claimed later on by the AirTran management that the establishment of AirTran involved former Eastern Air Lines employees.

The AirTran name was chosen by the merged airline's management in hopes of distancing itself from the troubled ValuJet past.

"[13] The Los Angeles Times wrote in the Summer of 1997, "After more than a year of reminding too many people of a disaster rather than low fares, ValuJet on Thursday said it would take a new name.

"[14] In an article in The Atlantic entitled "The Lessons of ValuJet 592," William Langewiesche presents a case in which the May 11, 1996 crash in the Florida Everglades as an example of a system accident, in which the complexity of the overall operation was the major contributing factor.

[15] Taking a contrary position, Brian Stimpson argues in the Manitoba Professional Engineer that there are other examples of studied complex operations which have been routinely performed safely for many years, with such examples including large aircraft carriers and the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Station in California.

However, on the tenth anniversary of the Flight 592 crash, AirTran made no major corporate announcements out of respect for the victims' families.

[17] In January 1999, a new management team led by Joe Leonard, a veteran of Eastern Air Lines, and Robert L. Fornaro, of US Airways, took the reins at the airline.

The two recruited a new senior management team, including Stephen J. Kolski, Operations, Kevin P. Healy,[18] Planning, and Loral Blinde, Human Resources.

At the same time, Leonard was determined to not only lead the turn around of the carrier, but establish a culture of trust and entrepreneurship at AirTran.

In 2003, following an order for 100 Boeing 737-700 aircraft, AirTran began service to Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport and to San Francisco.

Southwest Airlines made a higher bid for the gates, and AirTran lost the deal.

[23] However, Midwest announced TPG would increase its offer to $17 per share and a definitive agreement had been reached late on August 16, 2007.

On July 27, 2010, AirTran Airways hosted the grand opening of their new System Operations Control (SOC) Center at Orlando International Airport.

In April 2011, AirTran had the best safety record among U.S. carriers as measured by the number of incidents such as bird strikes.

"[26] Prior to the winding down of the airline, AirTran grew to serve more than 70 cities coast-to-coast as well as in the Caribbean and Mexico.

With the acquisition, Southwest added international service to several leisure destinations such as Cancún, Montego Bay, and Aruba.

[32] Southwest announced that the integration would be completed on December 28, 2014, with AirTran Airways Flight 1 as the final scheduled departure for the airline, flying with a Boeing 717-200 (N717JL) from Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) to Tampa International Airport (TPA).

[35] AirTran adopted an approach to employee recruitment similar to Southwest Airlines, with an emphasis on functional skills and relational competence.

[36] When the acquisition by Southwest was announced, AirTran served 69 destinations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and abroad.

The sections were divided by parallel red and pink stripes, which ran horizontal at the front and started to curve upward at the wings until they reached the top side of the plane at the back of the vertical stabilizer.

AirTran also partnered with the Orlando/Orange County CVB to create a Boeing 717 aircraft emblazoned with a "Say YES to Orlando" logo on each side and a second Boeing 717 saying "Orlando Makes Me Smile," which celebrated AirTran Airways' partnership with the OOCVB to promote travel to the city.

The airline also had an aircraft paying tribute to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando.

The teams represented were the Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Orlando Magic, and Milwaukee Brewers.