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MatlinPatterson ATA Holding LLC history
MatlinPatterson ATA Holding LLC company history timeline
Airline founder J. George Mikelsons was born in Riga, Latvia, and moved with his family first to Australia, then to Germany, and finally to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1960.
There he trained as a pilot, and in 1965 he took a position as a DC-7 copilot for a local travel club known as Voyager 1000.
American Trans Air, or more commonly known as ATA, was founded in August of 1973 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
1973 Pilot J. George Mikelsons starts his own tour company, Ambassadair.
The club’s first aircraft was a Boeing 720 named “Miss Indy,” followed by the addition of a second aircraft, another Boeing 720 named “Spirit of Indiana” added in 1978.
A second plane, acquired by Ambassadair in 1978, the year of deregulation in the American airline industry, was named "Spirit of Indiana."
In 1981, ATA received their common air certificate and commenced charter operations the same year.
In 1981, however, ATA received its certification as a charter carrier and added eight Boeing 707s to the fleet.
Employees numbered 320 in 1982, when revenues were $30.5 million.
With a fleet of eight Boeing 707s and 720s based at Indianapolis, charter operations grew to include the first DC-10 in 1983.
By 1984, owner J. George Mikelsons decided to form Amtram Inc., a holding company for ATA and Ambassadair as well as another future subsidiaries of the company.
The airline also added Lockheed L-1011’s to the fleet in 1985.
In 1986, ATA launched its first scheduled service, between Indianapolis, Indiana, and four destinations in Florida.
Mikelsons remained involved in tour packages, and in 1987 created the ATA Vacations, Inc., subsidiary to oversee these operations.
Amtran's annual revenues had multiplied eight times in six years, reaching $254 million in 1988 and involving a workforce of 1,800.
In 1989, ATA introduced the Boeing 757-200, which would become a backbone for the airline in the coming years.
The company posted its first loss, $2 million, in 1990.
By the mid-1990s, Amtran was retaining a workforce of 3,200.
A freight handling subsidiary was created in 1991.
The Ambassadair Travel Club had 27,000 members in 1992.
When it began flying out of Midway Airport in 1992, ATA carried 500,000 passengers out of Chicago alone.
1993 Amtran goes public.
ATA carried more than five million passengers on its 25 jets in 1995.
The year 1996 marked the beginning of increased competition from a major player in the industry.
Amtran lost $27 million in 1996, its worst year ever.
Amtran postponed a planned stock offering in August 1998 due to a general softening among airline stocks.
ATA carried more than six million passengers in 1998, and revenues reached $919 million.
At the same time, a regional service was launched through the purchase of Chicago Express in 1999, which was quickly renamed ATA Connection and operated from their Midway hub and Indianapolis.
ATA's ambitious plans met with a general slowdown in the aviation industry following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, however.
In 2001, the new aircraft deliveries began.
A fleet renewal program was launched in 2001.
The partnership lasted till 2002 when Travel City switched airlines.
On October 26, 2004, ATA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
2004 Holding company and seven subsidiaries enter Chapter 11 reorganization, battered by rising fuel costs.
In the beginning of 2005, ATA entered a partnership with Southwest Airlines.
In January 2006, finance firm MatlinPatterson invested over $100 million into ATA and made the company private, as well as brought ATA out of bankruptcy in February of 2006.
In 2008, the end was near for ATA. The airline had failed to regain profitability from the first bankruptcy and was facing mounting losses.
Unfortunately for ATA, the airline struggled after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in September of 2011.
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