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

[NickPeterman]

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...

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7329/16346661639_6ed7564f2a_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qUuUZM)IMG_6309 (https://flic.kr/p/qUuUZM) by Nicholas Peterman (https://www.flickr.com/people/53263228@N04/), on Flickr


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7349/15910362644_4bc022f05c_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qeWLvj)IMG_6290 (https://flic.kr/p/qeWLvj) by Nicholas Peterman (https://www.flickr.com/people/53263228@N04/), on Flickr

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7381/16531883612_dfc0005a74_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rbSe35)IMG_6263 (https://flic.kr/p/rbSe35) by Nicholas Peterman (https://www.flickr.com/people/53263228@N04/), on Flickr


https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7343/16532956955_15bb5a92ca_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/rbXJ6Z)IMG_6215 (https://flic.kr/p/rbXJ6Z) by Nicholas Peterman (https://www.flickr.com/people/53263228@N04/), 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

https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8657/16345252748_a078f30e71_o.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/qUnGby)IMG_9843 (https://flic.kr/p/qUnGby) by Nicholas Peterman (https://www.flickr.com/people/53263228@N04/), on Flickr



Hope you enjoyed, thanks for checking them out.


Cheers!

Nick

[SengaB]

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

[skyteam18]

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?

[PhilDernerJr]

Yeah, these are a great share!! Thank you!

[captmjk16]

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.

[megatop412]

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

[Mateo]

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.

[NickPeterman]

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.