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Delay grounds entire airline for a month
Delays in Newark are keeping an entire airline on the ground. We've seen how a single flight's delay can have impacts at airlines across the country, but preventing an entire airline from going wheels up ... that's huge.
JetAmerica has had to defer its launch for a month, citing problems getting takeoff slots at Newark Liberty International Airport. This isn't the first time an airline's blamed an airport, but it must resonate with the many passengers who have spent too much time at Liberty gates thanks to delays.
Of course, this holdup is costing JetAmerica, the wannabe low-cost carrier, an absolute fortune. So far, it's had to refund half a million dollars to more than 6,400 passengers, ostensibly because the folks in Newark temporarily clipped its wings.
If JetAmerica ever does really get off the ground, it will offer 34 flights a day, servicing such desirable destinations as Toledo, Lansing and South Bend.
Filed under: North America, United States, Airlines, Airports, News
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kara Jul 6th 2009 1:07PM
Jet America--brought to you by the same fine folks who brought us SkyBus a couple years ago. The Sykbus that let passengers take off on flights when it knew it was moments from shutting operations, stranding these passengers all over the US, and whose employees found out they no longer had jobs when they showed up for work and couldn't get in. The SkyBus that declared bankruptcy and thus never had to refund any of the money it'd received on unused tickets, preferring to let the credit card companies swallow the cost (which if my experience was any guide, they did unwillingly and only after la long fight). Does JetAmerica's "9 seats on each flight for $9" sound familiar? SkyBus had "10 seats on each flight for $10."
I'm really not a cynical person, but it strikes me as ironic and a little bit criminal that the same people who demonstrated they could not run a low-cost carrier with Columbus, Ohio as a base, and whose failure to do so left investors holding a very empty bag (not to mention a fleet of 737's), not to mention employees and passengers, are turning around and doing the same thing in South Bend, Toledo and Lansing. Same model, same region. Who invests in this kind of thing with that track record? Baffling.
Nick Jul 6th 2009 2:04PM
I'm confused...they don't have takeoff slots at one of the busiest airports in the country, but they sold tickets anyway, and I'm supposed to buy the sympathetic tone of your headline and post? Sounds like the cart was placed before the horse here.