I guess my original estimate of Skybus going under by now is incorrect. How much longer can they have until WN and all of the real airlines utterly crush them?

You know what, they might make it. I was looking into a flight with time, driving up to Boston...I mean PMH - and flying into Columbus in the morning, and back that night, just for the novelty of a $10 flight ($36 all in). However, the fares on the website are now up to $300, each way, for many dates. Hard as it seems, they seem to be selling tickets at higher prices that I ever expected.

Any word on when they might open flights past Dec 15? If I can get four of those $10 tickets, or even $40 tickets, a trip for my family to CA from Columbus might be worth the risk. In the week between Christmas and New Year's, all the other carriers are around $400 pp at least.

Combine these fares with onboard sales and the very low overhead of the airline (they don't even have a call center), and you've got a recipe for making some money.

Has Skybus released a list of their most profitable/high load factor cities yet? I know it's been mentioned before (and obvious now that there are two daily flights) that FLL is doing really well.

Anyone know when we can expect the release of flight dates for Jan 2008?

Thanks

It's now available.

As I was in the area, here is a photo of the "airport" that is being used for Hartford/Springfield (Westover Muni. Airport).

Photo

There is some signage for dropping off pax & parking. The airport must have found a rental car partner, as one sign mentions rental cars as you are leaving the airport. I didn't see any parking rates posted yet, but there aren't a great number of spaces available nearby.

If you aren't familiar with the area it may be a challenge to locate the airport as most of the signs directing you to the airport are the small 1'x1' green airplane signs along the road. It'll likely be a cluster#*%k around the terminal when Skybus starts service, so make sure to get to the airport early. I don't recall anything being available when I was airside last year, so bring a book/food/whatever with you for the gate area and flight.

:-: 100th post

Does anyone have an idea of what % of passengers connect through CMH?

Excellent! I think they are perform very well from FLL-CMH lately. I'm sure Skybus need get more capacity growth from CMH. I think Skybus will considerable next major more new cities from CMH.

How is loads from CMH-SGJ doing? I'm sure Skybus is done very well to St. Augustine. Skybus will inaugurate nonstop from CMH-SGJ next week. I am already knowable with my friends who lives in St. Augustine. They already heard about Skybus is coming to St. Augustine.

Why you don't give me a simply answer more specific information. How about skybus is continues more growth new routes from CMH sometimes in few months. I haven't gone to St. Augustine for long time. It was really small airport. It would be successful for CMH-SGJ will get increased to became second dailies roundtrip.

I just went to their website and most of their ONE-WAY FARES from Cbus to LA(burbank) are 250 bucks.

There are a few cheap fares in March of 2008(50 bucks one way).

So lets see I can take COntinental out of CLE for 275roundtrip AND GET A MEAl, or I could take Skybus out of Columbus and pay 500 bucks(roundtrip) and get jack squat. HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Who is going to actually fly this airline if an economy ticket costs more than a major carrier?

I think you'll find very few situations where Skybus is more expensive than a major carrier.

Actually, from my playing around with their booking engine, I think there are often times where Skybus is more expensive than a major carrier. (Similar to WN.)

I think, though, that there are very few situations in which the lowest fare ever offered for a particular flight is more on Skybus than on a major carrier.

For what it's worth:

7/18, Return 7/19 JAX/DAB-CMH:
Skybus - $376.30 (St. Augustine)
USAir - $388 (JAX)

8/1, Return 8/2 CMH-Seattle/Vancouver:
Skybus - $575.80 (BLI)
Continental - $514 (YVR) or $534 (SEA)

These are just a couple of examples, but there are plenty more out there, particularly with last-minute purchases. I will give Skybus that on advance, low-fare dates they are hard to beat, but otherwise the majors will give them a run for their money (even if it might be within $20-30 to fly into the "real" airport).