Here’s part of the write up Ben Mutzabaugh wrote for USA Today in the Sky:

The airline said in today’s press release that those problems also were the driving force behind today’s decision to ground the carrier. “We are reluctantly suspending our public charter operations effective today,” CEO John Weikle says in the release. Weikle also was one of the founders of now-defunct Skybus, an ultra-low-cost carrier that folded just several months after launching.

“Finalizing the slots required to support our charter program at Newark has taken longer than expected and we have decided to suspend our flights in order to refocus on different markets. We still strongly believe that there is an unmet need for affordable air service to secondary markets and we look forward to offering this option again in the near future,” Weikle says in the release.

Bryan Glazer, a spokesman for JetAmerica, says: “This was unavoidable. I worked closely with the executives of JetAmerica for several months and know they did their very best to overcome the challenges that the slot situation posed. But in the end, the business plan never called for paying for more than a half million dollars for slots.”

Still, Glazer suggested the JetAmerica team could make another attempt at launching a low-cost carrier. “Don’t be surprised if JetAmerica comes back with new routes and new destinations,” he says. Stay tuned …

1) It should be very clear to any potential Part 380 operator that you need slots to fly into a slot-restricted airport. If the airlines need slots for recurring operations at the same times, why wouldn’t they?

2) It should be even clearer that getting slots after 12pm at EWR was going to be tough. When do most of the delays happen? You guessed it…after 12pm.

3) They are ruining things with regards to Part 380 operators receiving grants. It is already difficult enough because most of these airports do not want to deal with anyone but majors and regionals.

You say: Skybus was a success until Bill Diffenderfer and Ken Gile ran it into the ground.

Not true. It was never a success. Is it possible that with better route and cost containment decisions it would have been successful? Maybe, but it was never a success.

You say: DOT CFR 380 rules do not require indirect air carriers likke Jet America to have slots. Why is the FAA changing the rules for JetAmerica?

Not true. It is clearly stated that they do need reservations in 14 CFR 93:
http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=ecfr;sid=773521cc9c6b20a8feed1107260c8e90;rgn=div6;view=text;node=14%3A2.0.1.3.11.13;idno=14;cc=ecfr

It is possible that has changed over time, but it’s certainly in force now. I can’t imagine that Continental and Northwest could care less about JetAmerica.

So what if David Neeleman’s first venture failed? He had good ideas after that one. Same with Allegiant. Their first model was not going to work, but the modified model post-bankruptcy was a good one. Weikle has yet to try to put forward a good model. If he does, then great, maybe we’ll see him be a success. But so far, I don’t see anything that’s going to work.

I wonder if some of the big boys at Continental Airlines is pulling on the FAA now requiring Jet America to have slots whereas they were not required to have the slots until late May or early June.

DOT CFR 380 rules do not require indirect air carriers likke Jet America to have slots. Why is the FAA changing the rules for JetAmerica? Could Continental or Northwest be out to get the little guy and protect their outrageous one-way fares from Detroit/Cleveland to Newark???

Maybe you did not know that Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind was rejected by 57 publishers but she kept trying to find one that would print her book.

Does anyone remember that David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue, lost his first airline, Hawaii Express? His first airline failed and he had to file bankruptcy.

Does anyone know that Allegiant Air, by far the most profitable airline in the US, filed for bankruptcy protection in its early years and emerged with new investors and new management?

And just how many times has Continental Airlines been in and out of bankruptcy?

EWR didn’t have arrival/departure slots until this year. Is it possible that Jet America’s management thought they didn’t apply to scheduled charters? For the years that LGA and ORD had slots, one couldn’t show up there unannounced.

Some old timers remember that when New York Air started its LGA-DCA service, it could not get two sets of “scheduled carrier” slots to run an hourly service, so it chartered Emerald Air to run these flights, and had to hope that it could secure “unscheduled” slots to operate the service.

“We are disappointed to hear about this situation, and our first priority is with our customers here in Toledo. We need to embrace and support JetAmerica and we sincerely appreciate the support of our community. The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority is also trying to mitigate their inconvenience as much as possible. We will see JetAmerica fly in August and beyond.”

DavidSF – I’m sure they thought they would be able to get a hold of slots between May 30 and now, but just think of all the travelers who now have had their summer plans ruined. They probably could have gotten a better deal had they known about this earlier. I feel bad for them.