Skybus Adjusts Schedule To Deal With Fuel Costs
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 7:59 AM
According to the airline, the adjustments will include some flight reductions as Skybus focuses on improving customer service and meeting demand on its most profitable routes.
Beginning April 1, the airline will cut previously announced service between Columbus and Niagara Falls, N.Y., and a previously announced second daily flight between Columbus and Milwaukee, will be discontinued.
Two weeks later, the airline will discontinue service between Columbus and Chattanooga, Tenn., reduce service between Columbus and New York/Stewart and between Columbus and Chicopee, Mass., from two daily flights to one.
Reservations for all Skybus flights from Aug. 1 through Sept. 2 went on sale Wednesday at 6 a.m.
Customers holding reservations on discontinued routes will be notified by e-mail and will
receive automatic refunds. Passengers holding reservations in cases where service is reduced from
two flights to one will be given the option of rebooking on the remaining flight, changing their
reservation to a different day, or receiving a refund, according to the airline.
"With oil prices well above $100 a barrel and showing no signs of any significant decrease,
we had a choice - we could sit back and hope things get better, or we could take aggressive action
to deal with this industry-wide problem," said Bill Diffenderffer, Skybus CEO. "We are
choosing to take action, and while no one likes having to cut back on flights, all airlines are
looking at doing those things they can control to help deal with the fuel cost issue."
Diffenderffer said Skybus anticipates no change in its plan to continue to grow aggressively over the next several years. "This is a change in our short-term strategy," he said. "It will also allow us to focus heavily for the remainder of 2008 on making changes that will improve the passenger experience and help us improve on-time performance."
Skybus investors include Nationwide Mutual Capital, Huntington Capital Investment Co.,
Battelle Services Co. and Wolfe Enterprises Inc., a subsidiary of The Dispatch Printing Company,
which owns WBNS-TV and The Ohio News Network.
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