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Thread: KGYR-Phoenix, AZ, 12/29/2014: the AirTran Airlift

  1. #1
    Senior Member NickPeterman's Avatar
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    KGYR-Phoenix, AZ, 12/29/2014: the AirTran Airlift

    Hey Guys,

    Catching up with some stuff I took late last year. It was the day after the final AirTran revenue flight, and I was kicking around the house in Cave Creek looking for something to do. For fun I checked the flightaware page for Goodyear and noted the AirTran 717 fleet was due into Goodyear for storage pending Deltafication. I mean ever last 717 they still operated, something like 14 frames in one day. Having been a stalwart Citrus customer, and having enjoyed many a morning listening to XM satellite radio whilst jetting to ATL, there was no question where I was gonna be. It was a bit sad knowing this was the last time I would see my favorite domestic carrier to fly on, one that had taken me to many awesome events, including more than one spotting outing. I recognize the material here is a bit repetitive, but as it is the last time we will be seeing these sharp little 717s, I think we can let it slide...

    IMG_6309 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


    IMG_6290 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr

    IMG_6263 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr


    IMG_6215 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr

    Quite possibly the last flights to operate under the Citrus callsign (and yes, they were operating as Citrus still!)


    Then I trudged to the fence to see this sad A320, still intact-ish after some time in the desert

    IMG_9843 by Nicholas Peterman, on Flickr



    Hope you enjoyed, thanks for checking them out.


    Cheers!

    Nick

  2. #2
    Senior Member SengaB's Avatar
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    Nice shots.
    I did not even know Airtran had "ceased to exist until a week ago when someone had told me in passing. So we lost another one.

    Senga

  3. #3
    Senior Member skyteam18's Avatar
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    Call them bland photos, but they're certainly historic. These'll be cherished more with time. -- while scouting around outside the fence what did you see inside Goodyear? Anything of interest?

  4. #4
    Administrator PhilDernerJr's Avatar
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    Yeah, these are a great share!! Thank you!
    Email me anytime at [email protected].

  5. #5
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    Thanks for sharing Nick. I'm sad to see Citrus go as well having used them to get to more than one vacation in the past, not to mention a nice livery to photograph.

  6. #6
    Senior Member megatop412's Avatar
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    All those Mad Dog's and not a single one of their 737's came in? I guess they got rid of all those before they finally ceased ops.

    I flew them from TPA to PHL in 2005, and it was a decent experience. What a shame, I loved their specials although the only one I ever managed to catch was Orlando Magic

  7. #7
    Senior Member Mateo's Avatar
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    Most of the 737s went over to Southwest, but a handful were scattered around the world to various operators looking to pick up a couple. Getting their hands on all of those 73Gs along with the acquisition were valuable assets. I think there are less than 10 inactive/stored 73G frames worldwide, so they're still tough to come by if you need to grow capacity.

  8. #8
    Senior Member NickPeterman's Avatar
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    Thanks Guys! Mateo is right, the 737-700s all went to WN, while these 717s went to the desert. They seem to be leaving GYR at a good clip- I think someone mentioned they are being converted for DL at a rate of 3 per month these days.

    I only ever shot one of the specials as well, William, the Milwaukee Brewers one... although I did fly on the Baltimore Ravens one from RIC-to-ATL once... painful affair for my family the Steelers' fans.

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