Independence Air ends service to 9 airports

[pumpkinboy]

FYI, according to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, Independence Air (FLYi) is ending service to Cleveland, Indianapolis, Louisville KY, JFK, Newburgh NY, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle, apparently to save on fuel costs. Some of the JFK service will apparently be shifted over to LGA, and the other jets will apparently be shifted to increasing service between the hub at Dulles and Chicago, Pittsburgh, Jacksonville FL and a new destination in the Caribbean.

So, the long and the short of it, parts of the MidWest and the Pacific Coast will lose a little competition, while FLYi consolidates and works to avoid bankruptcy. In the case of FLYi, I expect that bankruptcy would more likely take the form of Chapter 7 - cessation of business, than the ever-popular Chapter 11 - reogranization that the old Legacy airlines seem to come in and out of.

I had hoped that FLYi could make a go of it, and still hope that they are able to resolve their problems in this high-fuel-price environment. They fly nice, comfortable regional jets and many smaller airports that could sorely use more competition. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I'll also be interested in others' take on these developments.

 

[Captain Blue Sky]

This has been a long-anticipated happening and much discussion about them filing for bankruptcy has been heard since the summer of 2004. Independence Air has cut service here in Charlotte from 9 flights per day to 3. That is a large cut, considering the airline just acquired larger AirBus A319 aircraft. I suspect that we will hear of their demise sometime next year...