Discount airline Skybus drops flights here

Skybus Airlines officials cited unprecedented increases in fuel prices for a decision to suspend flights it started just three months ago between Chattanooga and Columbus, Ohio.

“This is a really unfortunate situation and we are not happy about it,” said Bob Tenenbaum, spokesman for Skybus. “(High fuel prices) created a situation where Skybus, and I think most airlines can’t be as patient with new markets as they normally would be and would like to be. Chattanooga was just not developing as quickly as we had hoped.”

The last day of service will be April 14, but Mr. Tenenbaum said he would not rule out the airline reinstating flights.

The airline also abandoned plans to fly from Niagara Falls, N.Y., and cut flights out of Columbus and Greensboro, N.C.

Skybus officials will send e-mails to customers with reservations on canceled flights and will provide automatic refunds.

The Columbus, Ohio-based carrier began offering the nonstop round trip flights between Chattanooga and Ohio in December, with fares as low as $10 a seat. The discount airline’s goal had been to tap into the “Chattlanta” market.

“I am disappointed in the airline’s decision to suspend service to Chattanooga,” Mike Landguth, president and chief executive of the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport Authority, said in a news release. “The price of fuel is clearly the driving force in these decisions, and that is beyond all of our control.”

Ohio native Seth Seymour, 25, lives in Chattanooga and regularly flies on Skybus to see his family. He said he had heard nothing from the company and was upset to learn that his bookings the end of April and beyond would be canceled.

“It means that I have to drive, because flying from Chattanooga to Columbus is so expensive,” he said. “I am irritated.”

Mr. Tenenbaum said Skybus officials will continue to look at coming back to the Chattanooga market, and said suspending flights from Lovell Field was “probably the least worst of the options we had in this situation.”

“If there is any kind of a significant reduction in the price of oil, it would certainly cause Skybus to take a look at all of the flights that were eliminated today,” he said.