America West set to take over ATA

CNN

America West Airlines is in talks to acquire all or part of low-cost carrier ATA Airlines, according to a published report Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal, which spoke to people familiar with the matter, did not specify how much America West (Research) would pay for the debt-heavy, Indianapolis-based carrier, which is struggling to restructure its finances.

The report said that other airlines have shown interest in ATA (Research), whose market value is about $31 million, with AirTran Airways — a rival low-cost air carrier — having held preliminary talks with the air carrier.

The U.S. airline industry has lost more than $30 billion since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Network carriers such as UAL Corp.’s United and US Airways are operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and No. 3 U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines (Research) is fighting to avoid bankruptcy.