Comments on: Skybus Expands, Then Contracts, Then Expands . . .

By: Dolores

Dolores — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 16:41:30 +0000

I am very upset about Skybus I thought finally they had a plane that went straight throught to NC without stopping all over before getting to destination. 1hr and 45 min to get there. WOW with out having to pay outradgous price i would take a flight that would take me 6 hours or more to get to Charlotte. huh . Oh well hopefully something will break. Between our son and myself we had 6 round trips booked with SkyBus ! PLEASE COME BACK !Our son and his wife is having a baby in October amd was so excited that we can get to them really quick when she is delivering our first grandchild. please please come back.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:19:33 +0000

Actually, Greensboro airport has done really good recently. Their airport is one of the nicest I have seen and I’m an international flyer. But I too HATE skybus!

By: Darkwater

Darkwater — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 06:42:48 +0000

Prior to CALite, didn’t New York Air make Greensboro a focus city when it made its push towards the South back in the mid-80’s? Texas Air sure liked GSO.

Also, aren’t airports like St Augustine and Chicopee tertiary, not secondary? Daytona Beach barely has any service and JAX needs a relief airport about as much as Ft Meyers does.

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:49:01 +0000

I do not work for them, no. I am going by what their spokeperson has said and by reviewing the prices for flights on days throughout the time those routes have been active. Only the first 10 seats are 10 dollars and they go up from there. There have been stretches where the lowest fare to both BLI and SAN as well as OAK and BUR were 120 dollars one-way. There is no certain way to know if they truly were hits but they appeared to be. The good thing, is they weren’t making enough profit, so they were cut. The fact that they are making changes is a good sign. They aren’t the idiots that about 90% of the airline industry thinks they are. As for the range, I would think (or hope) that they determined that before announcing the route. It actually may be a little shorter than CMH-BUR. Not sure though. If you compare SX flights to the west coast compared to places like MCI and MKE, then they were indeed more popular, but just too much fuel needed. It will interesting to see what happens to them. I live in Columbus and hope they do well.

By: CF

CF — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:33:19 +0000

Do you work for the airline, Jason? If so, then I will believe you when you say they were hits. Otherwise, I remain highly skeptical.

High load factors do not make for a successful flight. You could fill that thing with $10 fares and you’ll bleed money. Yes, Southwest has cut long hauls but that’s not their strength. The flights didn’t do well, so they cut them. That’s what I’m guessing happened with Skybus as well.

I know DL flies CMH-LAX only 4 times a week, but at least Skybus flies to CMH. If I saw Skybus flying BUR-RDU, then maybe I’d think it would have a somewhat better chance. But we’re talking about alternate airports on both ends, and that’s my biggest concern (besides the aircraft range issues).

By: Jason

Jason — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:24:22 +0000

The transcontinental flights were hits. They saw load factors of nearly 80% so the assumption that the demand wasn’t there and that people didn’t want to “subject” themselves to such a long flight are way off. The cost of fuel has risen to a point where the flight isn’t profiting. Even mighty southwest airlines has cut some of its long-hauls. Also, no one thought CMH-BUR would work and yet it does. DL flies CMH-LAX only 4 times a week, so that has no bearing on how SX will perform on the route.

By: CF

CF — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 18:04:41 +0000

If that was going to be their strategy, you would think they would have started out that way. I would be surprised if we ever saw Bellingham on the route map again.

Also, if that was their strategy, why would they start up Burbank to Greensboro?

I also don’t think JetBlue’s departure has anything to do with a Skybus effect. They don’t fly anywhere near NYC so I can’t imagine there was an impact.

By: Smail

Smail — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:30:31 +0000

With Jet Blue’s recent announcement that they’re leaving the Columbus market, I have to wonder if that’s the first identifier of a forthcoming “Skybus effect”?

By: Roger Poulard

Roger Poulard — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 17:27:50 +0000

I don’t think its as much of a function of capacity as it is of plane usage. They only have 5 planes and will only have 9 by the end of the Spring. If you can have a flight carry five or six loads of passengers instead of three, wouldn’t you concentrate on shorthaul products until you have more capacity?