Indianapolis, Indiana-based ATA Airlines has discontinued its operations, cancelling all current and future flights. The made the move after filing for Chapter 11 yesterday. The carrier says that due to the loss of a key contract for its military charter business, it became impossible to continue operations.
“Unfortunately, we were not in a position to provide our customers or others with advance notice. We apologize for the disruption caused by the sudden shutdown of ATA and regret the impact on passengers, employees, suppliers, and other parties,” the carrier said in a statement.
The carrier said customers “should seek alternative arrangements for current and future travel.”
Travellers who bought tickets using a credit card were told to contact their credit card company or travel agency directly for information about how to obtain a refund for unused tickets.
ATA said that currently it is unable to provide refunds to customers who purchased tickets directly from ATA with cash or a cheque, indicating that they may be able to obtain a full or partial refund for their unused tickets by submitting a claim in ATA’s Chapter 11 proceedings.
Information about submitting a claim will be available at the following website: http://www.bmcgroup.com/ataairlines .
Customers who purchased tickets from Southwest Airlines for flights operated by ATA under the codeshare agreement should contact Southwest Airlines directly at (800) 308-5037.
Earlier this week, Hawaii-based Aloha Airlines shut down its passenger operations.