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by AndrewFinlayson from Chicago

Last Post 3 days, 1 hour Ago


Fox News Chicago breaks another big story
Apr 3, 2008 | 8:23 AM
Category: News
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I couldn't be prouder of our news team here at Fox Chicago.  Our team regularly breaks stories and this morning it was another story of national importance.

 

AP-IL--ATA Bankruptcy,0138

ATA Airlines discontinues all flights, files for bankruptcy

Eds: APNewsNow

CHICAGO (AP) -- Customers of ATA Airlines are turning up at

Chicago's Midway Airport only to find the airline has discontinued

all fights and filed for bankruptcy.

It appears that not only passengers are flabbergasted. Workers

for the Indianapolis-based airline showed up for work, only to find

out their services weren't needed.

ATA says in a statement on its Web site that it became

impossible to continue operations after it lost a key contract for

its military charter business.

ATA announced last month that it would leave its hub at Midway

Airport. The airline had flights from Midway to Dallas/Fort Worth

and Oakland, California. It also had flights to Hawaii from

Oakland, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas.

A message left for an ATA spokeswoman Thursday was not

immediately returned.

 

(Thanks Lisa Sharmat, WFLD-Chicago)

 

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

 

Lisa is on our desk and she came in early to check our sources.  Her extra hard work resulted in our being aware of this story before any other news source.  She is one example of the team effort that makes Fox Chicago the most powerful name in local news.

Thanks Lisa and the AM team who work so hard every night and morning!

Andrew Finlayson

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Member Comments Total Comments: 1
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therman4 read my blog
Apr 3, 2008 | 11:31 AM

ATA was my carrier of choice, but after they aggressively expanded shortly after 9-11, and were one of the few carriers to do so, remaining profitability, the other shoe dropped with rising fuel costs and increased competition from other discount carriers. When ATA had to sell most of its gates to Southwest, losing many of its lucrative routes, the writing was on the wall. It is a sad day to employees, passengers and the industry. I still prefer ATA to Southwest. As a biz traveler, I found overall that ATA's level of service was exemplary and definitely better than Southwest's. Too bad ATA lost the contracts with the military and FedEx.
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AndrewFinlayson

I am the vice president of news for Fox Chicago. It is my honor to work with some of the best journalists in this great city. We are working hard to make sure that you get the best possible newscasts and the best information on line. We thank you for your support and welcome your feedback. MyFoxChicago is another way that this station is having important conversations with the community. Thank you for watching Fox Chicago and for visiting this website.

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