Sponsors of Danica Patrick, who became the first woman to win a major open-wheel race with her Indy Racing League victory in Japan Saturday, have been quick to capitalize on the exposure.
AirTran Airlines quickly put huge photos of Patrick on…
On ATA, you’re on vacation. That catchy tag line from the past has taken on new meaning to the 600 or so Indianapolis employees who were abruptly and unceremoniously terminated April 3 when the airline shut down for good. The singsong melody that accompanied those words in ATA’s marketing is now a dissonant tune for them and the thousands of ticketed passengers who were left stranded. The airline whose name and jingle once evoked images of fun in the sun,…
“I moved to Indiana on purpose,” I’ve been telling people since the move from Florida last August. The Indianapolis area attracted me and my business for a number of reasons-reasons which, I’m more convinced each day, Hoosiers take for granted. Someone might want to consider the good that’s right in front of our collective noses: Unlike Florida, whence I emigrated, people here know who can get things done, where businesses are, and whose reputation is good. A state full of…
Property Lines turns one this week. We’ve reached 300 posts and more than 5,500 comments thanks to the participation and support of a loyal group of readers. Thank you.To mark the occasion, let’s…
ATA Airlines may have crashed and burned. But the other Indianapolis carrier is flying high. Republic Airways Holdings Inc. earned $83 million in 2007, and profit might approach $100 million this year, according to the investment firm Raymond James. Revenue cracked $1 billion in 2006 and might surpass $1.5 billion this year. This at a time analysts are wringing their hands over which airline might be next to go bankrupt and cease operations. Skybus, Aloha Airlines and the hometown airline…
Former ATA Airlines employees are trying to comb the wreckage of the bankrupt carrier, looking to grab their financial belongings
before managers and lenders cart off what little is left. Pilots and flight attendants are opposing retention bonuses for
managers who will spend the next several months turning out the lights of the 35-year-old carrier.
The owners of ATA Airlines talked to five interested buyers early this year in a desperate attempt to sell the troubled airline. But FedEx Corp. in January unexpectedly cancelled ATA’s contract to carry military personnel, scuttling any sale and pushing ATA into liquidation. The company filed the Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition last night in Indianapolis. […]
ATA Airlines Inc. said today it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, just two years after emerging from a bankruptcy filed in 2004. All operations were discontinued as of 4 a.m. today, the carrier said, meaning ticket holders will need to find alternatives. ATA had previously discontinued scheduled flights from Indianapolis. The filing means […]
Shortly after arriving in Jeddah, it became clear that you don’t go to Saudi Arabia for its night life. With very little interaction of the sexes, a virtual ban on flirtation, a total prohibition on alcohol, smoking, dancing and movies, there was not much for our little tour group to do after dinner each evening. As for the days, well, they were different than anything you could experience here in the U.S. … particularly for the women in our group….
With the deflation of the RCA Dome, Lucas Oil Stadium will become the home of the Colts, the NCAA Final Four and, hopefully, the 2012 Super Bowl. In late October, the new Indianapolis Airport will become the remarkable new gateway to our city. Yes, 2008 should be an amazing year. Then what? Expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and construction of the JW Marriott complex will soon be under way. As we bike around downtown on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail,…
The Crossroads of America is at a crossroads-a transportation crossroads. And the direction we choose will affect our area’s competitiveness and economy for decades. It’s imperative that we embrace mass transit. Mass transit matters because it correlates to a key concern for companies planning to move or expand: access to a qualified work force. In choosing a community, companies assess obvious factors such as site acquisition costs and taxation, but even those typically take a back seat to work-force access….
The state’s largest beer and wine distributor is considering a long-abandoned drive-in theater in Lawrence for a new headquarters.
Monarch Beverage Co. has outgrown its home along Interstate 465 just east of the airport and has been looking for a place
to move for a year.
Northern Indiana motorists and Democratic opponents of Gov. Mitch Daniels were screaming bloody murder. Daniels in 2006 convinced the Legislature to lease the vital highway and plum of political patronage-the Indiana Toll Road-to an Australian-Spanish consortium for nearly $4 billion. Some managers at the Indiana Department of Transportation also were screaming-with panic. Despite winning the departmental lottery of all time-an annual budget for new roads would now quadruple from $213 million a year to $874 million by 2015-Daniels wanted 200…
Property tax reform took center stage during the just-completed session of the Indiana General Assembly. But lawmakers also grappled with a host of other measures with business implications. A roundup appears below. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT One of the session’s most divisive issues-whether to penalize companies that hire illegal immigrants-died during the waning hours. Under the legislation, introduced by Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, companies could have had their business licenses suspended, or revoked after three instances. The Senate and House passed…
The local president of Milwaukee-based M&I Bank, Reagan Rick, got the shocking news while waiting for a plane at Boston Logan International Airport. It came in a text message from Robert Warrington, the former CEO of First Indiana Bank, the Indianapolis bank M&I acquired last year for $529 million. Warrington told him 85-year-old New York-based investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. had been sold to JP Morgan Chase Co.-with backing from the Federal Reserve-for a mere $2 per share. “The degree…
Getting you up to date:
Airport sinks approved
The Indianapolis Airport Authority board has approved an obscure bid package known as “T-31” that provides for the installation of floor-level foot sinks for…
Hoosier Heartland Highway pumps up hope on prairie Expressway construction starting two years early LAFAYETTE-For years, they’ve driven on little more than paved-over wagon trails pioneers carved into the hills nestling the Wabash River. Motorists on State Road 25 between Logansport and Lafayette have grown desperate for a replacement: the final, 33-mile western leg of […]
LAFAYETTE-For years, they’ve driven on little more than paved-over wagon trails pioneers carved into the hills nestling the Wabash River. Motorists on State Road 25 between Logansport and Lafayette have grown desperate for a replacement: the final, 33-mile western leg of the “Hoosier Heartland Highway.” Today, the Hoosier Heartland expressway ends in Logansport-the western terminus of a newly improved, four-lane U.S. 24 that runs east, to Fort Wayne. But last month Gov. Mitch Daniels surprised highway proponents with word that…
This isn’t a column about business technology per se, but I couldn’t resist the temptation to write about a half-dozen states thumbing their noses at the federal government and potentially backing up travel this spring at airports all over the country, including some of the world’s busiest, all over a piece of plastic. After the tragedy of 9/11, one of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations was to create a hard-to-fake identity card for Americans. In 2005, Congress passed a huge defense…
Shipping giant FedEx has snapped up 126,000 square feet of the former ATA maintenance hangar at Indianapolis International Airport. About 80,000 square feet of the leased space is hangar bays, and the rest is office, training rooms and other uses, said FedEx spokeswoman Paula Bosler. FedEx will use the ATA space to maintain all but […]
