As few of the two airline's routes overlap, Southwest has stated that they plan to serve all the cities that AirTran will serve with the exception of DFW airport, (since Southwest's home and headquarters is at DAL (Dallas Love Field) This gives Southwest in an instant a huge presence at ATL (the largest city in the US that currently has ZERO service from southwest) and DCA (Ronald Reagan Airport in D.C.)
Southwest already carries more people domestically inside the United States than any other airline. This purchase will in an instant make Southwest a monster carrier, essentially the Aeroflot of the United States.
Airtran has a small international presence. They currently do charter flights to Punta Cana for Apple Vacations. and will begin regular commerical flights to PUJ in February.
Southwest is a domestic airline but has expressed some interest in flights Canada. (where having U.S. border preclearance makes the international flights work with their business model). As pretty much all Southwest gates are located in terminals/facilities not equiped for international arrivals, flights arriving from other international destinations would have to arrive at a different terminal, then be towed to Southwest's regular terminal for departure (this is how JetBlue operates) cutting down on the quick turn-around time Southwest is famous for.
In all other aspects , Southwest has made it clear that it will not adopt any of the business models of AirTran.
-They will continue open seating and not have assigned seating like AirTran
-They will operate a single cabin and get rid of AirTran's business class.
They will keep AirTran's Wifi inflight as Southwest is in the process of putting this in their planes.
-And best of all, they will get rid of AirTran's first and second bag fee charge and keep Southwest's policy of two bags free.
