Southwest Acquires Airtran

On May 2, 2011, Southwest completed a landmark acquision of Airtran. Now, over the next several months, the Dallas-based carrier has to chalk out an aggressive integration process. The acquisition was announced on September 27, 2010. On February 29, 2012, the Federal Aviation Administration issued a single operating certificate, starting off a process of integrating the two airlines by converting the aircraft exteriors and combining other operational functions.