Skybus shuts down, cancels all flights

[Doctor Cynic]

Source: Columbus Dispatch

Skybus Airlines, a Columbus carrier that excited central Ohio travelers with its $10 fares, is calling it quits.

The news came quickly today, with the airline announcing on its Web site at about 9 p.m. that it will no longer be in business Saturday.

After today, all flights are canceled.

Those holding tickets for future flights are advised to contact their credit card companies about obtaining refunds.

Read more: http://dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2008/04/04/skybust.html

---

That's three airlines going broke in a week.

They say third time's lucky.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Four airlines in a week -- Aloha, Champion, ATA and now Skybus.

I wondered, though, how long they would be able to charge $10 fares and still survive.

[MadBadger]

4. So THATS what ATA was, Air Tran. I for some reason couldnt put two and two together.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Oops, my mistake, ATA isn't AirTran. AirTran is still alive.

[Bjornsdotter]

7. ATA is out of business, not Air Tran

AirTran is still operating. ATA was formerly American TransAir.

Cheers

Edit---just saw that you already caught it! Cheers

[wpelb]

9. Price of fuel

Even though airplanes use jet fuel, which is chemically closer to diesel and kerosene than to gasoline, they are affected by the high cost of oil and petroleum products, just like the rest of us. Airlines flying on low margins (necessary in order to sell cheap tickets) are all but bound to fail.

[polticalpout]

2. Sucks, I flew them a few times

$42 round trip to L.A. taxes included from Columbus.

And $120 RD trip to Washington from Columbus.

:-(

[liberal N proud]

3. Damn!

[ellie]

6. Suck.

I was going to fly out to San Francisco in the fall on Skybus.

[Lady President]

8. 450 Jobs Gone

350 Columbus jobs are gone, and 450 total. In Columbus 350 jobs that pay a decent wage are hard to come by. Plus, the City of Columbus, Huntington, Nationwide Insurance, and the Dispatch were all major investors. Not good. :(

[AdHocSolver]

10. The failure of these airlines is due directly to deregulation of commercial aviation.

Rather loosely described, under regulation, airline routes were established by the government and the airlines were "assigned" routes that they could compete in. Also, less traveled routes, such as between smaller cities were divided up and "assigned" different carriers.

The purpose of regulation was threefold. One, it assured that smaller cities with less traffic were guaranteed some kind of air transportation. Two, it assured each airline, especially the "smaller" airlines that serviced the less traveled routes, would derive some revenue to be able to stay in business. Three, it provided the smaller airlines the chance to fly to larger air traffic hubs so they could earn some money from more densely traveled routes.

Then the bigger airlines decided they wanted more "competition" in the airline business. They pushed through "deregulation" and turned air travel into a free-for-all in which they destroyed the "competition". The big airlines gobbled up the smaller airlines or put them out of business by using their earnings from major routes to subsidize below-cost fairs on minor routes thereby driving the smaller airlines out of business.

The bigger airlines then cut out the smaller less profitable routes, thus denying smaller cities air service. Today, the few airlines left merely "compete" against each other for passengers in major airport routes. Eventually, they aim to merge or buy each other out, so you wind up with one big airline controlling all air travel. (I can think of the perfect name for the new super airline: Aeroflot II.)

[Ilsa]

11. I think Atalia is headed for bankruptcy also. nt