AirTran Plans Nonstop L.A.-to-Dallas Service

Discount airline AirTran Airways today plans to announce new nonstop flights from Los Angeles International Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth, a route now dominated by the nation’s largest carrier, American Airlines, which is based at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

AirTran, a unit of AirTran Holdings Inc. based in Orlando, Fla., plans to start the service July 1 with two daily flights. Its unrestricted one-way fare will be $199, and its 14-day advance-purchase fare will be $99.

That undercuts most current nonstop fares charged by American -- a division of AMR Corp. -- and others on the route, giving AirTran the opportunity to pick up business, said Kevin Healy, AirTran’s vice president of planning and sales.

The lowest unrestricted, one-way nonstop fare is currently $702, covering the nearly 50 daily nonstop flights on American and other carriers from Los Angeles, Orange County and other Southern California airports to Dallas/Fort Worth, Healy said.

It’s a market “ideally suited for our business model,” he said. AirTran will use the Boeing 717 jetliner, built in Long Beach, on the new route.

American spokesman Tim Wagner declined to comment on whether American would match AirTran’s prices.

But he said, “We can compete with any airline in any market,” and pointed out that American offers a global route network and frequent-flier benefits that travelers “can’t find on these more limited carriers.”