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LEASES
3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2015
Leases [Abstract]  
LEASES
LEASES

On July 9, 2012, the Company signed an agreement with Delta Air Lines, Inc. and Boeing Capital Corp. to lease or sublease all 88 of AirTran's Boeing 717-200 aircraft (“B717s”) to Delta at agreed-upon lease rates. The first converted B717 was delivered to Delta in September 2013, and as of March 31, 2015, the Company had delivered a total of 61 B717s to Delta. As the Company has previously announced, all B717s remaining at the Company were grounded on December 28, 2014. A portion of the B717 fleet that will not be delivered to Delta until the second half of 2015 has been placed in storage until each aircraft is ready to be converted. A total of 76 of the B717s are on operating lease, ten are owned, and two are on capital lease.

The Company has paid and will continue to pay the majority of the costs to convert the aircraft to the Delta livery and perform certain maintenance checks prior to the delivery of each aircraft. The agreement to pay these conversion and maintenance costs is a “lease incentive” under applicable accounting guidance. The sublease terms for the 76 B717s on operating lease and the two B717s on capital lease coincide with the Company's remaining lease terms for these aircraft from the original lessor, which range from approximately three to nine years. The leasing of the ten B717s owned by the Company is subject to certain conditions, and the lease terms are for up to seven years, after which Delta has the option to purchase the aircraft at the then-prevailing market value. The Company has accounted for the lease and sublease transactions with Delta as operating leases, except for the two aircraft classified by the Company as capital leases. The subleases of the two capital lease aircraft are accounted for as direct financing leases. There are no contingent payments and no significant residual value conditions associated with the transaction.

The accounting for this transaction is based on the guidance provided for lease transactions. For the components of this transaction finalized in third quarter 2012 and with respect to which the lease inception has been deemed to occur, the Company recorded a charge of approximately $137 million during third quarter 2012. The charge represented the remaining estimated cost, at the scheduled date of delivery of each B717 to Delta (including the conversion, maintenance, and other contractual costs to be incurred), of the Company's lease of the 76 B717s that are accounted for as operating leases, net of the future sublease income from Delta and the remaining unfavorable aircraft lease liability established as of the acquisition date. The charges recorded by the Company for this transaction were included as a component of Acquisition and integration costs in the Company's unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income and were included as a component of Other, net in Cash flows from operating activities in the Company's unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows, and the corresponding liability for this transaction is included as a component of Current liabilities in the Company's unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet. A rollforward of the Company's B717 lease/sublease liability for 2015 and 2014 is shown below:

(in millions)
 
B717 lease/sublease liability
Balance at December 31, 2013
 
$
122

Lease/sublease accretion
 
5

Lease/sublease expense adjustment
 
22

Lease/sublease payments, net (a)
 
(86
)
Balance at December 31, 2014
 
$
63

Lease/sublease accretion
 
1

Lease/sublease expense adjustment
 
4

Lease/sublease payments, net (a)
 
(20
)
Balance at March 31, 2015
 
$
48


(a) Includes lease conversion cost payments