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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2009
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Skybus Airlines Goes Bust

Low-cost Ohio carrier with $10 fares is airline industry's third casualty in a week

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(Newser) – Anybody who wondered how Skybus could make money with its famous $10 airfares can stop: they didn't. The Ohio-based airline has become the latest US carrier to go bankrupt in the face of soaring fuel costs and a sluggish economy, the Columbus Dispatch reports. It made its last flight yesterday and passengers boarding planes were warned their return tickets had suddenly become one-way.

The low-cost airline had been troubled since its launch last year and some analysts said the failure to factor in rising fuel costs had doomed it from the start. “They had a dumb model," one said. "The original plan never had a chance, at $50 a barrel oil or $100 a barrel oil.”  The airline's CEO quit two weeks ago to resume his book-writing career.

Columbus, Ohio-based Skybus Airlines has abruptly shut down and plans to file for bankruptcy protection next week.
Columbus, Ohio-based Skybus Airlines has abruptly shut down and plans to file for bankruptcy protection next week.   (AP Photo)
Chief Executive Officer W.G. Jurgensen, left, of Nationwide insurance company, and founding Skybus CEO Bill Diffenderffer, of Skybus, walks by a Skybus plane in this file photo.
Chief Executive Officer W.G. Jurgensen, left, of Nationwide insurance company, and founding Skybus CEO Bill Diffenderffer, of Skybus, walks by a Skybus plane in this file photo.   (AP Photo/Columbus Dispatch, Tim Revell)
Skybus Airlines has gone under, but some analysts said pigs would have flown before the airline's business model had a chance of succeeding anyway.
Skybus Airlines has gone under, but some analysts said pigs would have flown before the airline's business model had a chance of succeeding anyway.   (AP Photo)
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