AirTran Airways Selects Metro Atlanta Location for New Customer Contact Center; Center Will Create Up to 200 New Jobs.

Business Editors/Travel Writers

ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2004

AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:AAI), today announced that the airline has selected Carrollton, Ga., as the site of its new customer contact center. The announcement concludes a national search of numerous metropolitan areas. The selection of the site for the customer contact center was heavily influenced by the efforts of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Carroll Tomorrow, a Carroll County economic development initiative, and the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism.

The center will employ up to 200 people and is expected to open in late March at the intersection of Hays Mill Road and the Highway 166 Bypass in Carrollton. Cooperating with the State University of West Georgia in recruiting, curriculum development and training, the airline expects many of the center's staff will be comprised of students from the nearby university.

"AirTran Airways is pleased to select metropolitan Atlanta as the site for our new customer contact center," said Robert L. Fornaro, AirTran Airways' president and chief operating officer. "The Atlanta region is important to our company and to our Crew Members, and we are pleased to add quality jobs to the area. This innovative partnership with the university and the community is a win-win for everyone."

AirTran Airways currently operates two customer contact centers - one in Atlanta, Ga., and one in Savannah, Ga., which employ more than 700 Crew Members. This new customer contact center is the most recent addition of facilities for AirTran Airways in the metro Atlanta area. In February, the airline will open a new flight operations training center in conjunction with Alteon, Inc., in College Park, Ga. Complete with full computer based training classrooms and flight simulators, the flight operations training center will be the most modern and high-tech of its kind in the industry. In May, a new hangar and technical operations center will open at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta, Ga.

AirTran Airways is one of America's largest low-fare airlines - employing more than 5,600 professional Crew Members and operating 508 flights a day to 45 destinations. The airline's hub is at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, the world's busiest airport by passenger volume, where it is the second largest carrier operating 188 flights per day. In the U.S. AirTran Airways is the 10th largest airline in terms of passenger volume. AirTran Airways, a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings (NYSE:AAI), is the world's largest operator of the Boeing 717 and has the youngest all-Boeing fleet of any airline. In 2004, the airline will begin taking delivery of new Boeing 737-700s. For reservations or more information, visit airtran.com (America Online Keyword: AirTran).