Skybus Airlines, finally decided to shut down on Saturday and is expected to file for bankruptcy protection next week. This makes Skybus the third airline to close down, after Hawaii’s Aloha Airlines and Indianapolis-based ATA Airlines, both of which closed down earlier this week. The flights were again canceled and the passengers left to bear the brunt of rising fuel costs and a slowing economy.
“Skybus struggled to overcome the combination of rising jet fuel costs and a slowing economic environment,” Chief Executive Michael Hodge said in a news release. “These two issues proved to be insurmountable for a new carrier.”
Hodge said the flights scheduled for Friday would be completed, but the operations would end Saturday. The company, he added, would file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday.
The CEO added that the company regrets having to take such a step and “the impact this will have on our employees and their families, our customers, our vendors and other partners, and the communities in which we have been operating.”
The less-than-a year old Skybus caused a sensation when it started operating May 22, 2007, as a low-fare carrier that charged extra fees for nearly everything. It flew to more than a dozen U.S. cities, including three in California: from Burbank to Columbus and Greensboro, N.C.; from Oakland to Columbus; and, until recently, from San Diego to Columbus.
It employed about 350 people in Columbus and 100 at a second hub at Piedmont-Triad International airport in Greensboro. The company operated 11 aircraft making 80 daily flights to different cities around the U.S.
Travelers have been left in inconvenience. ATA and Aloha Airlines both stopped flying this week after filing for bankruptcy protection. American, Southwest and Delta airlines on the other hand, have all had to cancel flights recently, to address safety concerns about some of their aircraft.
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