John Weikle engineered the launch of Skybus, which lasted nearly a year before ceasing operations in April 2008. Now, Weikle's back, leading the startup of another airline service: a low-fare, single-plane business under the name JetAmerica, which is scheduled July 13 to link Newark with such secondary markets as Toledo, Ohio. Weikle tells aviation editor Michael Fabey why now's a good time for such a venture.
Q: Given what happened with Skybus, why do you think you'll be able to succeed now?
A: Skybus actually was a successful start. We had 80% of our seats sold. But the airline never ran on time. The planes were late 49% of the time. They canceled flights daily.
We're trying to avoid that this time by hiring Miami Air. That's what we're doing differently: We're hiring experienced flight crews.
Q: By the same token, this is the second time that your backers have attempted to start a service. Earlier this year, they were scheduled to start a similar service to what you're planning now. What happened with that?
A: That was Air Azul, and it was with the same group of owners, Sun America. They were doing it with Sun Country. But they didn't really sell any tickets.
Q: JetAmerica's been offering tickets for a couple of weeks now. How have sales been?
A: We've sold 25,000 tickets so far. It's beyond our expectation, We've had 600,000 unique visitors to our website so far.
Q: How are you able to price so low, even in this low-fare environment?
A: We're chasing small-community air service development grants. The four airports together that we're starting with [Toledo, Ohio; Lansing, Mich.; Melbourne, Fla.; and South Bend, Ind.] got well over $2 million in marketing dollars from those grants, and the airports are doing the marketing for us. Our average fare is $77. We can beat everyone. It's just a matter of marketing.
Q: You're counting on ticket prices, and a more reliable service than Skybus had, to make this launch successful, then.
A: It's based on the Ryanair model. They break even with their ticket sales. They offer free seats The big driver for them is the website. It's the biggest in Europe. And they use it to sell. We're all starting to do the same thing Ryanair is doing.
Q: You see seats, then, as just a commodity?
A: They've always been a commodity; once an airplane takes off, the seat is sold forever.
Q: So, what's keeping you up at night? What could keep this from being successful now?
A: Well, ticket sales have slowed down, but what's really got us pretty worried is fuel. It's up 40%. If fuel keeps getting higher, there comes a point it's not viable right now. We can always postpone the start -- up to 10 days before the flight.
Q: I would think the economy would be a bigger concern right now than fuel.
A: I really thought with this new administration, things would start turning around. They haven't yet. Unemployment is up. Discretionary money for travel has gone away. This year, everyone is losing. For the first time in commercial aviation, fewer people are flying.
Q: Other airlines are taking seats out of the system. What do you see that they don't?
A: The legacy carriers have taken a lot of capacity and created a lot of gaps out there. We're going to places where people have not enjoyed the same experience of air travel availability. It may take a while for this to catch on, but I think it's going to be a gold mine.