AirTran to launch Logan-Florida service

Discount carrier AirTran Airways will begin daily service from Boston to three Florida cities this year, moving to fill a void left by bankrupt Delta Air Lines' shutdown of its Song affiliate.

AirTran plans to offer winter-season service, single round-trip flights each day from Logan International Airport to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers starting Nov. 15 and to Orlando Dec. 21.

Delta had dominated the Boston-Florida air travel market for decades. But by December the carrier will offer 54 percent fewer seats on flights between Boston and its five Florida nonstop destinations, compared to a year earlier. Delta would run a distant second to JetBlue Airways Corp. in seat capacity on those five routes.

Ed Freni , interim director of aviation for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan, said the AirTran service launch ``could not come at a more appropriate time for our traveling customers. AirTran has addressed customer demand in this marketplace."

Kevin Healy , AirTran vice president of planning, said Boston is ``a growing market" for AirTran, and making Florida more accessible is a key part of the airline's expansion strategy. AirTran currently has no nonstop Florida flights from Logan but requires connections through Atlanta.

Depending on the time of year, Massport data show, Florida cities as a group are as popular with Logan travelers as the traditional top two destinations from Logan: Washington, D.C., and New York.

Delta hasn't significantly cut the number of flights to Florida. Rather, it has replaced the 199-seat Song Boeing 757-200 planes with smaller jets on many Florida runs. Song was folded back into mainline Delta on May 1.

By December, according to data collected by rival JetBlue , Delta will offer 92,845 seats a month on flights between Boston and Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa, and West Palm Beach. That compares to 200,224 in December.

JetBlue offers 10 daily flights now to the same Sunshine State airports where Delta also offers 10 nonstop flights. By December, JetBlue will offer 171,824 monthly seats on those five routes, up from 135,872 a year earlier, a spokeswoman for the carrier, Jenny Dervin, said.

Delta spokeswoman Gina P. Laughlin confirmed Jet Blue's numbers , saying the reductions reflect Delta's decisions to ``re-gauge the aircraft we assign on those routes to meet demand" while still offering the same number of daily flights.

Yesterday, AirTran's website priced winter flights at $178 round-trip and up, not counting fees and taxes, to the three Florida cities.

With the addition of the three Florida cities, AirTran will offer 31 daily flights out of Logan to 10 destinations, including Atlanta, Chicago's Midway Airport, and Philadelphia.

A planned reshuffling of gates at Logan in February could create opportunities for more flights from AirTran, which has been on the prowl for more gate space.

After outgrowing its three gates in Terminal C, AirTran has been renting a fourth gate in the terminal from United Airlines.

Air Canada is scheduled to relocate on Feb. 1 to three gates in Terminal B it will rent from US Airways , US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said. That will leave two gates Air Canada uses in Terminal C open.

Logan spokesman Phil Orlandella declined to comment on Massport's plans for the two gates at Terminal C, but he acknowledged they create room for expansion by AirTran, JetBlue, United, and other airlines now based in Terminal C.

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.