CMH-based Skybus
 

Skybus Airlines, a new airline based in Columbus, plans to begin flying in Spring 2007.

http://www.skybus.com/

Not much info on the website, except for a couple of news items and job opportunities.

Do you have any more info about this airline? Do you think the presence of Skybus will bring fares down in general?

Some tidbits:

Skybus will have at least 10 seats at $10 o/w fare on EVERY flight. Flights should start in May.

Planes will be A319s. They will do CMH-XXX-CMH-XXX-CMH-XXX etc. They plan to have the shortest daily time on the ground of any airline worldwide.

The planes will have Boeing-width seats on the 7" wider Airbus plane. The extra 7" will be put in the aisle to allow ppl to pass each other on boarding and deplaning. There will be no jetbridges and boarding will be through 2 doors. Skybus plans a 25 minute ground time. There will be no assigned seats. There will be no call center. All reservations will be internet based, check-in will be via kiosks.

Flight attendants will clean the planes.

Food and beverage will be sold onboard by Flight Attendants who work on commission.

Skybus is following Ryanair's business model. It will fly to alternate airports (BUR, for example) and will avoid any airports with expensive landing fees and long taxi times (e.g. ORD, JFK, LGA, EWR, LAX.)

I like it.

chrisny2, where do you get your info?

Thanks for the info.

I saw recent news about Skybus:
http://www.nbc4i.com/midwest/cmh/new...2-21-0010.html

After doing some research, this is what I found:

According to their About us part of their web site and an article frrom last March, Skybus intends to put in 150 seats into the Airbus 319's they just bought. If both sources are accurate, you can expect an easyJet type of seat pitch (29"). Another thing to consider is that, according to Wikipedia, Skybus intends to be "modeled after the European airline Ryanair". The aforementioned news article also mentions that a former top official from Ryanair, Charlie Clifton, has been working with the management of Skybus while it was raising start-up capital. As you can imagine, pilots are tickled pink at the prospect of flying for them. As far as I can tell, Skybus still hasn't decided where they will fly from Columbus, but as of last March, they have ruled out Las Vegas, Chicago and Tampa, Fla.

Awkward post script: after digging a little bit deeper, I came across this photo of a Skybus jet from airliners.net. I noticed that it only has one over-wing emergency exit. Don't you need more than that to carry 150 people on a 319, like easyjet does (easyJet has 156 seats in their 319's)? My google-fu is weak in this regard, but I remember reading that the maximum capacity of 319's and 737's with only one over wing exit is 137 or something in the US. Can anyone confirm?

Other sources I came across while researching this article:

Airline bulliten
Emerging Airlines Monitor

Virgin America (VX) has just announced that it will lease some of its A319's to Skybus while they continue to fight the DOT for approval. The big question here is if these "borrowed" planes from VX will have their awesome In-Flight Entertainment system installed yet or not. If it is, these early Skybus pax are gonna get spoiled rather quickly and all Hell will break loose once these A319's are returned to VX and Skybus is left w/ no IFE! :rolleyes:

Oh boy. This is asking for trouble.



FA: "Sir, can I interest you in a beverage?"

Me: "No thanks."

FA: "Sir, let me put this another way. You can buy the hot coffee or you can wear it. Your choice."

Me: "Uh, make mine a double."

This report was recently stated in a Travel Agents Forum:

Skybus, the aspiring Columbus, Ohio-based carrier that has described itself as "ultra-low fare," told the Transportation Dept. that it "anticipates" starting service May 20, although it has not yet revealed the destinations it plans to serve.

Skybus also said it soon will ask the DOT for a waiver that will let it begin advertising and selling tickets before receiving its DOT certification.

Skybus already has its logo -- a stylized butterfly -- that can be seen on its homepage [www.skybus.com] alongside such marketing phrases as "It screams real low fares in a quiet butterfly kind of way," "The universal symbol for incredibly low airfares" and "Fly for the price of a tank of gas. Or less."

The carrier plans to launch all-coach service with A319 aircraft configured for 150 seats.

Looks like the date they are going to announce routes according to many people on airliners.net is April 24. It sounds as if PSM is a sure thing. Checked bags will be $5 for the first and another $5 for the second. This is all according to people on airliners.net so take it for what it's worth.

and they're off:

http://www.skybus.com/

looks like they only fly to/from cmh (for now, I hope!)

deleted

I ran a test booking on the Skybus website and could do BLI-CMH-BLI over the first weekend of June for $40.80, if I wanted to (I don't). The website will not allow you to purchase connections through CMH -- every sale seems to be to or from CMH. That's going to wear thin in a hurry.

So is the prohibition against bringing any of your own food or drink onboard. I predict a lot of fights over water bottles at the boarding gate.

I salute risk-takers but I do not think I would be interested in this airline.

I would do this, flying from Bellingham, if I determine that Columbus is worth a couple of days visit. Anyone with an opinion about that?

Yes. It isn't.

I predict this airline will go nowhere. I'm all for breaking the rules of the game and thinking outside the box but some of their "Rules of Flying" are downright condescending.

"Don't Call Us. We don't have a phone number."

"Don't be Late. We won't wait and we'll leave without you."

"Bring a Book."

"Don't Sneak Food Onboard."

I'm sort of paraphrasing here but I don't think the reaction of the average travelling public will be good. Nobody likes to be talked down to. I also don't like that all roads end or begin in Columbus, OH; I'm from Ohio and fly to CMH frequently. With a population of +/- 750,000 (US Census), CMH cannot be a large enough market to support all that traffic. I smell blood in the water here.

Tiger works in Asia because the flights are point to point between large business and tourist hubs. They're not flying from Bangkok (Pattaya) to Singapore (Johor Bahru). They're flying BKK-SIN frequently and competing fiercely at that. Southwest works because they're flying PHX-BUR and other core point-point routes frequently.

Madness. As Bethune once said, don't fly people where people don't want to go. Skybus will find itself competing against itself; the market is not there. Maybe I'm wrong and if in 12 months time they're off like a rocket, all drinks on me at the FT do. Hold me to that.

Yep, I was looking at their website and terms today, and noticed that they are defining themselves as a "point to point" airline. So if you want to fly from BLI to RIC you need to buy one ticket from BLI to CMH and a separate ticket from CMH to RIC. That's annoying.


My other favorite point is that they have no phone number - they are handling customer service through email and online forms only. Wait 'til the first big storm to see how well that goes over :D

And when you submit an online inquiry, here is the 'reassuring' response you get:

I can see that dealing with this company will just be literally impossible. At least they are honest about that. Best of luck to them; Virgin America might be getting some more newish A319s sooner rather than later :)

The point-to-point ticketing is annoying. Checking pricing on any flights requiring a connection is a pain.

You got it. Wife and I are scheduled CMH-BOS (Well, not really BOS, Portsmouth, NH) in July, $72 round trip for both of us. I'll let y'all know how it went.

Don't forget that in CMH you would also have to pick up your checked bags, pay for and recheck them, and go back through security.

Yeah, I commented about this on the Midwest board, and this business strategy seem insane to me. Trying this "no frills" model out of a Top 10 US city would be risky, but out of Columbus? Madness.

I still think the most telling sign of impending failure is America West's history at Columbus. They tried for YEARS to make it a hub, losing money repeatedly. But when Doug Parker and Scott Kirby took over the reigns, they realized it was hopeless, and pulled out.

If Parker and Kirby thought CMH could never work as part of a low fare national network -- and this was after successfully battling WN at PHX and LAS for years -- what are the odds for the newcomers? Almost nil, I would think.

BTW, somebody earlier knocked Columbus as a sightseeing destination. Unfair. I've ALWAYS enjoyed visiting Columbus. A very pleasant place to spend a long weekend. Their zoo is world famous, the German district downtown is fun, and the city is welcoming. So if you can snag a $10 fare there this summer, it's worth visiting a place you'd probably not otherwise get to (and won't have the opportunity again!).

http://frommers.com/destinations/col...603010001.html

I guess this explains the $25 each way DING fares in May on Southwest to/from CMH for various midwest cities ($84 all in r/t). Nice fare, too bad I have absolutely no reason to go to CMH. (Just as I'm sure others find no reason to come to Omaha, except CWS, BRK annual meeting, etc ;) ).

Why does everyone assume that all of their flying will be forever out of CMH? There is nothing to stop Skybus from flying (for example) MCI-BUR once they get enough aircraft. Also if you look at their website they view most of the state of Ohio as their catchment area; they have distances from CMH to CVG and CLE amongst other cities. Lastly never underestimate the willingness of people to go out of their way for a low fare. Just look at Ryanair and Frankfurt Hahn; who the heck had ever heard of that airport before Ryanair started their and now it is a good sized airport in terms of traffic despite being a good distance away from a major city. Yes I do know that FRA is much larger than CMH but the same basic idea is there and I would not be surprised at all to see Skybus establish other bases outside of CMH.

When it comes to having no phone number; I am not holding my breath to see that one as a permant move. What I can see happening is them not using a toll free number and charging lots more $$$$ when they people try and book over the phone.

What's with all the "Oh, they don't have this!" and "They'll never succeed, they don't offer adequate customer service!" and "Point-to-Point? That's a pain!"

What exactly do you think "no-frills" means? It certainly doesn't mean a customer-service-oriented business approach. This airline will thrive off of the market of people who just need to get places and aren't seasoned air-travelers with frequent flyer miles and expense accounts.

$10/segment + $10/taxes = $20 per segment total... i'm talking $80 round trip flights including taxes if you're not flying out of Ohio, half that if you are. HALF THAT. $40 round trip. College kids cram 6 of themselves into honda civics and drive for 18 hours straight to get that sort of cost per person. If SkyBus is half as comfortable as the middle seat in a Civic, it's worth it -- and a heck of a lot faster too.

...and predictable fares too, none of this $10-$400 price shifting over the course of 5 hours. I, for one, am looking forward to the new player in the game.

"Oh, and don’t sneak food onboard unless you brought enough for the whole plane." :confused:
I don't think I'd like to be a FA on this airline. Can you imagine having to tell someone they can't bring their own food on board??:eek:

The fact they they will appeal to inexperienced travelers is what makes me nervous. The first major storm in Columbus or elsewhere is going to be hell with no customer service number to call...

Things will go wrong--this is air travel we're talking about. They don't seem to have any interest in responding to problems.

I can think of approximately 65,000 full time reasons why Skybus could work well out of Columbus. Ohio State University.

The CMH Metro area is approximately 1.4 million people.

So do we think any of the bigboys (IE. UA) will match some of these fares. Ive seen a lot of 120 RT available all throughout the fall.

There are 10 seats per flight at 10 bucks. If you can snag one of those, God bless you. It will obviously be "a deal." A deal Skybus will lose money on (I assume they're doing it for promo reasons).

Once those seats are sold, the fares -- at least to the West Coast -- seem to jump to $50 each way. Certainly a deal, but not much better than the type of "junk fares" we see every day on the mileage run board.

And it's not like they plan to offer a lot of $50 fares, either -- they couldn't, nobody could make money at that price. Even the most efficient low cost carriers are going to have a CASM (cost per available seat mile) of about 8 cents these days (Southwest's this quarter was 9 cents, JetBlue 8.5 cents, and AirTran 9.5 cents). So flying you 1500 miles (say to the West Coast from CMH) is going to cost them about $120. For every one-way fare below that, they have to sell a fare above that, so each $10 fare has to be off-set by a $330 fare + tax -- assuming EVERY seat is sold! How many people are going to pay $330 each way to fly SkyBus? What about $190 + tax (to compensate for the more plentiful $50 fares)? Seems doubtful to me.

There are now at least three or four Skybus threads. It may be a good time to merge them and put in an appropriate forum.

chrisny2, whilst I do not know anything about Skybus I can tell you from experience that you will absolutely not turn a 319 in 25 minutes unless you have an army of workerbees. You say that Skybus will not use jetbridges, well thats nice but please explain how the hell you are going to quickly and safely deplane passengers in wheelchair. I often fly B6's JFK, BOS flights to PBI and FLL and each flight consistently has a half dozen or more elderly passengers who have to use wheelchairs. With 150 passenger a jetbrdge and simultaneous rear deplaning our groundcrews still cannot deplane, service, refuel and board an airbus in less than 40 minutes and they have plenty of practice.. I just think that there plans are grand but terribly flawed. Likewise, without jetbridges how are you going to offer weather protection. Believe me bad weather will serious effect your passengers as you board and deplane. Bad weather will slow both actions considerably and simply aggravate passengers further. Theres nothing more annoying than sitting around in wet clothes. I don't wish skybus any ill will but I truely believe that they will not be able to deliver. Additionally, America west pulled out of CMH as it was working for them and they definitely have deeper pockets. I am interested to hear your opinions.

Columbus has the Nations best Oktoberfest, or so it says according to travel magazines and top 10 oktoberfests

Do come to the UK where both Easyjet and Ryanair do their turnrounds in 20-25 minutes all day long, and have done for years; Easy A319s have 156 seats, Ryanair's 737s have 189 seats.

Yes, and it rains here as well (of course ! ) and we have wheelchair pax here too. And there are a minimum number of groundcrew, who are usually handling agent staff rather than direct employees (even if they have been given the airline uniform to wear that day).

Incidentally, in the time it takes many airports to manoeuvre a jetbridge up to the aircraft, these two airlines have probably got most of the passengers off already.

If you buy two separate point-to-point tickets to get from coast to coast via CMH, and the first flight operates late into CMH causing you to miss the second, will they reaccommodate you? They're all "Don't be late. We'll leave without you." What if Skybus itself makes you late?

I guess you could call them up for rebooking... oh, that's right.

You are missing my point. I still contend from my own personal experience that elderly passengers and those with disabilities need help boarding and deplaning. I stand by my statement that Skybus will not turn an airbus with 156 passengers in anything close to 25 minutes. JetBridges are fast and efficient. Additionally we at JetBlue use aft mobile stairs in conjunction with jetbridges at many of our downline stations and we cannot make these turns. Additionally it may rain in the UK and Ireland but neither country is subject to the seasonal temperature extremes that are common in the US. Parts of upstate NY recorded 20 feet of snow this past winter.The extremes in the weather will not only slow down airstair boarding but make it downright miserable.

There seems to be a lot of skybus haters in this forum. :)

I'm biased, but I hope they succeed. I agree that on the revenue side it will be tough. You can only sell so much advertising space, drinks, trip insurance, snacks, etc. On the cost side, they will definitely have an advantage over the legacy carriers in terms of labor, slotting fees, reservation agents, customer service, maintenance (new fleet and only one type of aircfraft), etc.

One of the things that might give them a chance is the fact that they are creating a new customer segment for their product. In addition to taking leisure travellers away from other cariers, they are targeting people who normally wouldn't do a weekend vacation or visit family/friends, etc. due to the cost.

I also believe that they will eventually fly point to point instead of connecting through CMH. They only received a handful of planes from their first complete order, so when they take full delivery, hopefully we'll see more routes.

I do agree that it will be ugly when there are delays/cancellations and everyone is trying to rebook new flights as they have no 800 number. But I guess that is the risk one is taking by purchasing dirt cheap fares. I think expectations have clearly been set so people should know what they are in for.

Just my .02

You've noticed that, too? I'm jumping around the several Skybus threads, defending an airline I'll never patronize. I would have been a Skybus regular in my college days, and I expect more than a few Ohio State students will be thrilled with these folks.

I think what concerns so many FTers is the idea that other carriers will lower their already low standards of customer service in response to the competition. That hardly seems likely. Ryanair certainly competes with the likes of BA and other traditional carriers, but other carriers did not match Ryanair's service approach.

I think it would be great for all of us if the carriers started to distinguish themselves. As it stands, there is not a world of difference between the best Economy Plus seat on United, and a middle seat on Southwest. I'd like to see more variety.

It's not "hate" -- I'd love to see a new innovative US airline (although, in the current crowded environment, I really can't imagine why anyone would put their own money into launching a new domestic carrier).

It's just that the math doesn't work here. I went through it in an earlier post. It is IMPOSSIBLE to make money offering $10 and $50 airfares in the United States. It's a business model with no hope of success.

You are missing the point of their pricing structure; of course Skybus will lose money on $10 and possibly even $50 fares. They will make that money up with baggage fees, priority boarding fees and (most likely) the selling of any and everything possible at 30,000 feet. Money also gets made on the comissions they get from hotels, attractions, rental car reservations etc etc. NK down in FLL is using this exact same model which works very well for Ryanair.

Ryanair is a shopping system that happens to fly people. Most of their money is made off of selling incidentals that only happen when you buy the ticket.

Look at it like this. Assume you buy a ticket that Skybus breaks even on for the flight part of your trip. Then you check a bag for $5 and assume Skybus gets $4 profit, buy priority boarding $10, pure profit, buy a soda and snack for $4, Skybus gets $2 profit, book a hotel via their website $5 commission/profit, book a rental car via their website $5 commission/profit. These numbers can add up pretty quickly based on my example, assuming Skybus breaks even with the ticket they just made close to $26 profit from this passenger. Now assuming that thier fares average out to them breaking even across the whole plane on a flight and all of their passengers average about $26 in additional charges they made $3,744 on that flight. Not too shabby by any airlines standards.

Granted their are overhead costs and HQ staff has to be paid etc etc but that $3,744 across the whole system can add up pretty quickly.