Re: AirTran removing 737s?
I don't know where they get their other planes from, but keeping planes can often be an aircraft-by-aircraft decision process depending on lease agreements or if a specific aircraft has been a maintenance headache or if they are just unable to utilize that one plane.
Re: AirTran removing 737s?
They actually owned this plane, it wasn't leased. They have sold five 737s this year and have deals to sell five more, according to their Q3 earnings report (none of the buyers were disclosed). As part of their plan to slow growth and trim costs, rather than just park them, in which case they'd still have to pay them off and pay to maintain them, they decided to sell. 737s are always in high demand and they probably got a pretty good price for them.
Re: AirTran removing 737s?
AirTran dumped N286AT and N268AT; both frames went to Enerjet as C-GBEJ and C-GOEJ (respectively). As I recall, AirTran has also sold a number of planes immediately upon delivery to Arik Air (737s of course).