The 35-year old company filed for bankruptcy protection under chapter 11 Wednesday, April 2, 2008, due mainly to high fuel prices and their loss of an agreement with Federal Express, which helped offset the company's fuel bill. The company had announced in a statement last month that all domestic flights out of Chicago's Midway Airport would cease on April 14 and all the international flights on June 7. The airlines, once the 10th-largest, operated only six flights a day out of Midway. Those flights were to Oakland, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Guadalajara and Cancun.

Passengers and employees were shocked to find out that ATA Airlines discontinued all flights earlier than anticipated. When passengers arrived Thursday they found an empty check-in counter. Those passengers who bought their tickets with a credit card are directed to contact their credit card company for a refund from the unused tickets. Those who bought their ticket through Southwest Airlines is instructed to contact Southwest. It wasn't just the passengers who were caught off-guard. One employee, who had worked at ATA for 15 years, was contacted at 3:00 am Thursday morning and told not show up for work that day or ever again. Another employee admitted that they all knew this day was coming, but was shocked by the sudden announcement.

You can view the entire article at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-ata-webapr04,0,6791752,print.story. The case is pending in the Southern District of Indiana (Indianapolis); Case No. 08-03675.

Chandra