Low Cost Airline Stops Valley Service

Discount air carrier Skybus Airlines shut down its operations April 5, including service at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. The combination of rising fuel prices and a downturn in the economy forced the airline to file for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11. “These two issues proved to be insurmountable for a new carrier,” said Skybus CEO Michael Hodge said in a prepared release. Skybus, based in Columbus, Ohio, began service in May from its hub in Ohio and smaller airports closer to large cities. To attract budget-minded passenger, a select number of seats were set aside at $10. The company regrets the decision and the impact it has on employees, customers, vendors and other partners, Hodge said. Businesses and individual investors in Columbus, and from equity capital, combined to raise the $160 million to launch the airline. The airline leased ticket counter and office space at the airport. That space now reverts back to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. For its eight months of operation in 2007, Skybus flew nearly 93,000 passengers on its daily non-stops to Columbus. The airline cut back to one daily flight in January due to fuel costs and wanting to use its aircraft more efficiently.