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AirTran To End Daily Flight To Gulfport-Biloxi, Miss., Airport

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By TED JACKOVICS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2008

AirTran Airways will discontinue its daily flight between Tampa International Airport and Gulfport-Biloxi (Miss.) International Airport, effective Jan. 5, after a casino discontinued subsidies for flights between Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta and the Mississippi gambling destination.

"We have flown under a contract with the casinos since we began the market in 1999, since that is the bulk of the business flying into the market," AirTran spokeswoman Cynthia Tinsley-Douglas says in a written statement.

"The casinos have made the decision to operate without a contract for flying, and the market is just not financially viable for us without that support especially in today¹s volatile economic times."

George P. Corchis Jr., president and chief operating officer of MGM Mirage's Mississippi operations, released a statement to the SunHerald in Gulfport and Biloxi: "For nearly 10 years we have subsidized the airline and in this economy, we simply can no longer afford to do it alone."

AirTran serves the Tampa-Gulfport route with 117-seat Boeing 717 aircraft. The Beau Rivage Hotel and Resort Casino offered flight and hotel packages between Tampa and Biloxi beginning at $238 for one night.

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