It is a sad day now that my new favorite airline has become the latest victim to soaring fuel costs. SkyBus Airlines has ceased all operations effective today April 4, 2008 and 450 employees are not out of work. SkyBus airlines launched in 2007 based in Columbus Ohio and their hook was offering 10 $10 seats for every flight they flew. They made many route changes throughout their brief time in business. I guess the $160 million they raised from private investors was not enough to offset the rising fuel costs.

My personal reason for why I liked their airline so much was their daily flights to Punta Gorda Airport in Florida. Punta Gorda is located halfway between Sarasota and Fort Myers. This location was the closest possible airport to our ultimate spring break destination of Palm Island, Florida. The airport itself was built to accomodate SkyBus travelers. I can only hope that one of the surviving airlines picks up the route and can negogiate with the Punta Gorda Airport Authority since the infrastructure is now in place to support full sized jets.

The Skybus web site instructs passengers who have purchased future flights to contact Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express to recoup their money for the the paid fares.

First Aloha Airlines, then ATA Airlines and now Skybus Airlines. RIP.