Airline Empires » Skybus http://www.airlineempires.net/blog The Captain Has Turned Off the Seatbelt Sign Mon, 05 Sep 2011 12:59:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Skybust – Turns out $10 Fares Aren’t Profitable http://www.airlineempires.net/blog/2008/04/skybust-turns-out-10-fares-arent-profitable/ http://www.airlineempires.net/blog/2008/04/skybust-turns-out-10-fares-arent-profitable/#comments Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:56:40 +0000 admin http://www.airlineempires.net/blog/2008/04/04/skybust-turns-out-10-fares-arent-profitable/ Skybus AirlinesAs of Saturday, April 5, Skybus ceased all operations citing rising fuel costs and a downturn in the ecomony.  I’ve spent a lot of time focusing on the Skybus filings which lay out their business plan, and this is no big surprise.  Firstly, Skybus assumed a $1.21 per gallon jet fuel price, and about a $70 average ticket price.  The problem in this area seemed to be that Skybus saw an almost tripling in their fuel price (up around $3.50) without any significant increase in yields.  Of course their difficulties didn’t end in their gross underestimation of fuel costs.  Critics have pointed to Skybus’ questionable route planning, and this author definitely agrees.  Several weeks ago, Skybus announced a Portsmouth, NH. to Newburgh, NY flight.  This hour-long flight was to catch the Boston-New York market, only it never could.  Because Portsmouth was an hour North of Boston, and Newburgh is an hour and a half North of Manhattan, it would have taken longer for a passenger to fly than to drive.

But this seeming oblivity to how to make money flying airplanes was not exclusive to the Portsmouth – Newburgh route.  With cities chosen such as St. Augustine, Chikopee, Gary, and Chattanooga, it starts to make one wonder how they even made it to April 5th.

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