I was saddened to see the news that ATA Airlines is pulling out of some of its commercial flights because of the high cost of fuel. Back when my kids were in Jr high we flew on ATA to Boston through Midway and our kids first flew alone on this route back from Boston. Midway is a much more manageable airport than O’Hare and ATA was a very nice low cost option at the time.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Citing high fuel prices, ATA Airlines announced Thursday it will leave Chicago’s Midway Airport starting next month.

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ATA will stop its domestic flights out of Midway on April 14 and its international flights to Mexico on June 7.

The decision will not affect its scheduled commercial flights to Hawaii from Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas, spokesman Steve Forsyth said.

“This was a difficult decision, but the high cost of fuel has made it economically unfeasible to continue our low-fare service at Midway,” said Rob Binns, ATA’s chief commercial and planning officer, in a statement released Thursday. “We will redeploy our ATA aircraft in profitable charter service.”

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April 3, 2008

I just read that ATA has now filed for bankruptcy under chapter 11.