ValuJet Airlines
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| Founded | 1992 Georgia, U.S. | ||||||
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| Commenced operations | October 26, 1993 | ||||||
| Ceased operations | November 17, 1997 (merged with AirTran Airways) | ||||||
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| Fleet size | 56 | ||||||
| Destinations | 28 | ||||||
| Headquarters | Clayton County, Georgia, U.S. | ||||||
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| Website | valujet.com (1997 archive) | ||||||
ValuJet Airlines was a low-cost carrier, headquartered in unincorporated Clayton County, Georgia, that operated regularly scheduled domestic and international flights in the Eastern United States and Canada during the 1990s. The company was founded in 1992 and was known for its sometimes dangerous cost-cutting measures. All of the airline's planes were purchased used from other airlines, very little training was provided to workers, and contractors were used for maintenance and other services. The company quickly developed a reputation for its lax safety. In 1995, the military refused ValuJet's bid to fly military personnel over safety worries, and officials at the FAA wanted the airline to be grounded.
The May 1996 crash of Flight 592, caused by illegally stored hazardous materials on board, spelled doom for the airline. ValuJet was grounded the next month and not allowed to fly again until September, with a greatly reduced fleet. The airline's major customers never returned and the company suffered major losses. In 1997, the company merged with the much smaller regional airline AirWays Corp., holding company for AirTran Airways. Although ValuJet was the nominal survivor, the merged airline operated as AirTran until it was purchased by Southwest Airlines in 2011. Unlike ValuJet, AirTran had no fatal accidents during its existence.
ValuJet was founded in 1992 and began operations on October 26, 1993. It originally offered service from Atlanta to Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa with a single Douglas DC-9 that previously belonged to Delta Air Lines. The first flight, Flight 901, flew from Atlanta to Tampa. The carrier was headed by a group of industry veterans including co-founder and chairman Robert Priddy, who had started a string of successful airlines including Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), Air Midwest Airlines, and Florida Gulf Airlines. Board members Maury Gallagher and Tim Flynn, the other co-founders, developed and ran WestAir before selling it to Mesa Airlines; former Continental Airlines and Flying Tigers President Lewis Jordan joined the carrier a short time later as president.
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