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Southwest Airlines to Buy AirTran

Southwest Airlines agreed to buy AirTran in a $1.4 billion deal that will combine two of the country's largest low-fare airlines

The acquisition gives Southwest, which already carries more passengers than any other American airline, a bigger slice of the market in the Northeast, including New York and Boston, and in Atlanta, the busiest hub in the nation. In totla, Southwest gains entry into 37 new cities.