Originally Posted by
C17PSGR
I hate to wish any business bad luck, but .... Skybus is taking things too far. WN has done great things for fares (even if I generally avoid them) but it has also permitted the other airlines to reduce the standards of service. If Skybus succeeds, the majors will reduce service even further and add even more fees.
Personally, I can't see how Skybus can succeed since I don't think American's will tolerate airports being called Seattle which are a couple of hours away from Seattle or the inability to call in on the phone.
On the other hand, someone willing to finance an order to 65 A319's disagrees.
I'm not so sure. True Southwest has lowered fares and reduced the standard of service. I think Skybus is testing the waters, sort of a "let's see if we can take this a step further". Southwest customers are already willing to be herded onto single-class airplanes for cheap. Skybus is betting that these customers will be willing to forsake a few more amenities to save even more money. Think about it - for a family of four already on a tight budget, those Skybus tickets free up a lot of cash in the vacation budget, even compared to WN fares.
The issue of distance from the advertised city won't be a big deal for many. If you were going to rent a car in SEA anyways, what's the difference if you rent it in Bellingham? Gas, sure, but the vacationing family still saves money. WN customers are already willing to fly to BWI for Washington DC, or Islip for NYC.
Should Skybus succeed, my guess is that Southwest is the one who will feel the squeeze. The legacies won't likely stoop to Skybus levels. Hopefully they'd be able to re-focus on their core customers and bring their service levels back up to reasonable standard.
Let's not forget, Allegiant and Spirit have switched over to similar business models with apparent success. Allegiant's loads are over 80% and they just completed a pretty successful IPO.