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| Founded | August 1993; 31 years ago (1993-08) | ||||||
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| Ceased operations | April 3, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-04-03) | ||||||
| Hubs | |||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | ATA Travel Awards | ||||||
C8 andATA Connection were theIATA code designator andDBA name ofChicago Express Airlines, which in its later years was doing business as ATA Connection, and was thetrademarkcodeshare name andbrand used by the renamedparent company ofATA Holdings Inc. forATA Airlines (formerly known asAmerican Trans Air), the principal operating unit for flights to smaller Midwestern cities.
C8 - the ATA Connection, as a branded regional feeder operation, ceased being used when the remainingassets of Chicago Express were completelydivested from AMTRAN, INC.'ssuccessorcompany early in 2006, and some months before that when thefleet was withdrawn from service, owned aircraft parked, and leasedairplanes returned to their lease owners. Chicago Express, operating as the ATA Connection, flewBritish Aerospace Jetstream 31 turboprops which were then replaced withSaab 340 turboprops. C8 was also theIATA code used whentravel agencies were writingtickets upon Chicago Express routes, and booking travel between airlines notaffiliated or owned byATA.
When the remains of Chicago Express (C8) wereliquidated, the company was sold as Chicago Express, just as it read on the company's original airline operating certificate. ATA Connection's imagery and logos do not live on, unlikeBMI Regional's logos and trademarks after the buyout of parent airlineBMI.
The type of arrangement the C8 code and ATA Connection's form of logo and branding separating the two, has in the past at other companies, led to many public and corporate perception problems. Examples of such would beRansome Airlines, who much of the informed among the aviation industry, was under the impression had completely exited the business of aviation, when itsparent company had collapsed inbankruptcy. However, Ransome Airlines asTrans World Express continued to operate for years to come, unbeknownst to many.
Similarly, for many lay individuals, when one sees thePan Am emblem and logo emblazoned upon railways and airplanes at airports in literally identicalPan Am Clipper Connection orPan Am Railways form, this tends to leave the impression to all, that the original business is still in place. As in the case ofPan Am Systems also unbeknownst to many, no business connection to the originalPan American World Airways exists, although Pan Am's distinctive logo who Pan Am System owns, has been through four generations of different corporate usage.
C8 the IATA code of ATA Connection, C8 thecertificated airline and former subsidiary ofATA Airlines parent company, and C8 the brand identified with ATA Connection are once and for all defunct.Amtran, andATA Holdings continue to exist but in the renamed form ofGlobal Aero Logistics.
ATA Airlines, a fully certificated airline carrier, IATA code TZ, ended operations in April 2008 as a result of the controlling interests of theMatlinPattersonhedge fund's reallocation of Amtran/ATA Holdings/ATA Airlines capital resources into the continuedleveraged investments ofDC-10 equipment, andWorld Airways /North American Airlines causing and resulting in the financial insolvency of ATA Airlines through these collateralized transactions.
(C8) The ATA Connection brand no longer exists.
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