TransMeridian Airlines was an Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

 based charter operator, operating under U.S. Department of Transportation

United States Department of Transportation

The United States Department of Transportation is a federal Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with transportation. It was established by an act of Congress on October 15, 1966, and began operation on April 1, 1967...

 FAR

Federal Aviation Regulations

The Federal Aviation Regulations, or FARs, are rules prescribed by the Federal Aviation Administration governing all aviation activities in the United States. The FARs are part of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations...

 Part 121. It ceased all operations on September 29, 2005, after negotiations with creditors to restructure its debt failed.

History

The scheduled charter airline was founded in 1995. TransMeridian originally flew on behalf of the nation’s largest tour operators from the upper Midwest

Upper Midwest

The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the midwest. Although there are no uniformly agreed-upon boundaries, the region is most commonly used to refer to the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and...

 and Northeast

Northeastern United States

The Northeastern United States is a region of the United States as defined by the United States Census Bureau.-Composition:The region comprises nine states: the New England states of Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont; and the Mid-Atlantic states of New...

 to points in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 and Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

, but later expanded to operate its own branded scheduled charter service with an additional focus on Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 destinations. At its peak, it had 7 Boeing 727's

Boeing 727

The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...

, 11 Airbus A320

Airbus A320

The Airbus A320 family is a family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger jet airliners manufactured by Airbus Industrie.Airbus was originally a consortium of European aerospace companies, and is now fully owned by EADS. Airbus's name has been Airbus SAS since 2001...

, 7 Boeing 757

Boeing 757

The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...

 and 7 MD-80 aircraft in service.

Over its 10 year history, TransMeridian had safely carried well over one million passengers to over 150 destinations primarily within the United States, Mexico, South America and the Caribbean.

At the time of its closing, TransMeridian operated a domestic hub

Airline hub

An airline hub is an airport that an airline uses as a transfer point to get passengers to their intended destination. It is part of a hub and spoke model, where travelers moving between airports not served by direct flights change planes en route to their destinations...

 operation in Orlando-Sanford, Florida

Sanford, Florida

Sanford is a city in, and the county seat of, Seminole County, Florida, United States. The population was 38,291 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 50,998...

 (SFB) with service to Syracuse, NY, Rockford, IL, Allentown, PA, Harrisburg, PA, Toledo, OH, Belleville, IL, Louisville, KY, Cincinnati, OH and Las Vegas, NV. International TMA destinations included Liberia, Costa Rica; Aruba; Punta Cana and Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic; and San Juan and Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

In 2004, Senator John Kerry

John Kerry

John Forbes Kerry is the senior United States Senator from Massachusetts, the 10th most senior U.S. Senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He was the presidential nominee of the Democratic Party in the 2004 presidential election, but lost to former President George W...

 used a chartered Boeing 757

Boeing 757

The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...

 from TransMeridian for his 2004 presidential campaign

John Kerry presidential campaign, 2004

The Presidential Campaign of John Kerry, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and the nominee of the Democratic Party challenged Republican incumbent President George W. Bush in the U.S. presidential election on November 2, 2004. Ultimately, Kerry conceded defeat in the race in a telephone call to Bush...

. http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-05-25-kerry-plane_x.htm

The airline declared Chapter 7

Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code

Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States...

 bankruptcy on 29 September 2005 and ceased all operations.

Fleet

• McDonnell Douglas MD-80: 5
  • MD-82: 4
  • MD-83: 1
• Boeing 757
  Boeing 757
  The Boeing 757 is a mid-size, narrow-body twin-engine jet airliner manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Passenger versions of the twinjet have a capacity of 186 to 289 persons and a maximum range of , depending on variant and cabin configuration...
  
  -200: 6