Skybus shuts down, cancels all flights

The Columbus Dispatch ^ | April 4, 2008 | Marla Matzer Rose

[shaft29]

BFD

[kAcknor]

Not sure Paleo Conservative said it, but I'll join in.

My wife flew Skybus from Columbus to North Carolina and a more rude, self centered, totally lacking in service airline would have been hard to find.

One good thing. Prior to her trip, we had booked seats to Florida at the end of this month! After her experience when we had a chance to cancel and re-book elsewhere we took it!

Dodged the bullet big time.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Aloha
Champion
ATA

Suffering short-term memory?
PSA
Eastern
Braniff
Pan Am
TWA
Western

Complete list of Defunct Airlines

[JavaJumpy]

Ahhh, I see - thanks for the response!

[nralife]

And all of those you listed went out of business in the last month?

[nralife]

“This is going to be another one of those periods where most of the startup airlines go under, allowing some of the majors to raise fares and keep providing bad service for a while longer. Even an airline as relatively healthy as Southwest is cutting back some flights. Fuel prices are the major problem - expect fares to go way up across the board as the competition drops out.”

Makes sense to me. And Southwest just lost a lot of flights with the loss of their codeshare agreement with ATA. I even heard that Southwest was calling American Airlines with a corporate credit card to reaccommodate some of their passengers who were scheduled to fly on ATA.

[OeOeO]

Any Columbus freepers? I lived there over 10 years and never heard of an international flight out of Port Columbus International Airport. Of course in those days P.C.I.A. resembled the airport in the movie Casablanca.

[buccaneer81]

Any Columbus freepers? I lived there over 10 years and never heard of an international flight out of Port Columbus International Airport.

I live in Columbus. The only international flight I know of now is to Toronto (I know, not really overseas.) There used to be a few flights years ago to the Caribbean, but if you want to go to Europe, you have to go to Cincinnati for Delta, or Cleveland for Continental.

[buccaneer81]

a more rude, self centered, totally lacking in service airline would have been hard to find.

Sounds like my experiences on US Airways as well. IMHO, the best domestic airline is Continental.

[Paleo Conservative]

I bet Airbus is pissed. Skybus had placed orders for 65 aircraft.

Considering the backlog of A320 series aircraft, the Skybus slots on the production line can be quite valuable. Given enough advance notification, Airbus could change those aircraft to any of the A320 series - not just the A319. Airbus will laugh all the way to the bank just as Boeing did when the original launch customer for the 787 (Primaris) cancelled its order. By that time Boeing was on a roll selling hundreds of 787's with a 5 or 6 year backlog once production would start. The 20 slots freed up became available for earlier deliveries for airlines that hadn't yet ordered the 787 or more early deliveries for existing 787 customers.

[Paleo Conservative]

Why good riddance?

An airline where everything is a la carte including customer service. Good luck getting rebooked if a flight gets cancelled or is over sold. It makes Ryan Air look good in comparison.

[OeOeO]

When I lived there there was a billboard of Believe it or not, Larry Flynt, welcoming you to the hometown of Hustler Enterprises.

[buccaneer81]

I just looked Primaris up on Wiki. They won't last long.

Charters are in trouble, too. Sun Country is hurting, and they used to be pretty steady as a charter airline.

[Paleo Conservative]

I miss Braniff and Eastern. I never cared for Pan Am; it wasn't so great if you weren't traveling first class or business class.

[buccaneer81]

When I lived there there was a billboard of Believe it or not, Larry Flynt, welcoming you to the hometown of Hustler Enterprises.

LOL! I've been here since '92. I would have loved to have seen that.

[Paleo Conservative]

I should have said Primaris was the US launch customer not the overall launch customer.

Supposedly Sun Country was founded by ex-Braniff employees not long after Braniff I went bankrupt in May 1982. If they have any ETOPS 180 planes available, I bet Southwest wouldn't mind chartering them to fly their code share passengers to Hawaii.

[OeOeO]

I was even privileged to enter one of the original Hustler Clubs.(aimed to overtake the Playboy Clubs,apparently) in 1972. Boy what a dive.

[nralife]

Ah yes, Braniff...

And another pic too large to post here:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2060/2080412905_0de17c79d0_o.png

[buccaneer81]

I bet Southwest wouldn't mind chartering them to fly their code share passengers to Hawaii.

True, but what about training or hiring crew rated on something other than the 73?

[buccaneer81]

I never cared for Pan Am;

Flew them to London in '85. Greyhound could have done better than their service in coach.