AirTran’s shareholders approved Southwest Airlines’ proposed acquisition on Wednesday, which was originally announced last year in September. The buyout will expand Southwest’s lead in market share of visits online among airlines, where their website already consistently ranks first in the US.

The deal will further entrench Southwest’s position in southern states and also expand its reach in more than 30 airports. Additionally, Southwest can service AirTran’s international destinations in the Caribbean and Mexico. When comparing the states of visitors to AirTran and Southwest’s websites, the addition of AirTran will particularly strengthen their position in the midwest and northeast.

There are numerous similarities in the demographics of web-users visiting the websites of AirTran and Southwest; the sites almost have parity in terms of the income breakout of visitors. Both receive especially high shares of visits from web-users in the 55+ age group.

Thanks to Margot Bonner, Analyst with our Custom Data & Analytics team for the analysis for today’s blog post.