CMH_Downtown

What I have said all along... FLYER BEWARE Pricey sandwich? Fine. Getting stranded? Not. by Steph Greegor / January 10, 2008 It’s not $10 fares that will make Skybus the city’s most entertaining business story again in 2008. It’s not the expensive sandwiches or those quaint stairs you take from the cold tarmac up into the planes. It is simple stubbornness. Critics of Columbus’s bargain-basement airline insist it needs to offer something better than bargain-basement customer service. But the company’s CEO insists it can’t and won’t. As it hurtles toward its first anniversary in June, can little Skybus afford to stick to its guns? Whether or not you’re rooting for Skybus, the airline’s insistence on staying with a much-debated business model is compelling stuff. Ten years from now, Skybus could be a thriving industry darling, laughing victoriously at the dullards who doubted its ability to fundamentally change U.S. air travel. Or it could be the answer to a trivia question: What was that cheap airline they tried to start with orange planes? Skymobile? Skyrider? Vaporbus? MORE: http://www.theotherpaper.com/top1-10/coverstory.htm

This is all so wrong, for so many reasons.

Some local televisions new... NBC 4 finally switched to a high definition format. The changeover includes a new graphics package, yet the music theme stays the same. No studio changes other than a slight backdrop change in the Storm Team 4 studio. Channel 10, the city's leading news station, was the first to broadcast in HD back in April of 2007. Channel 6, the red-headed stepchild of Columbus media, likely won't change over for several years. Speaking of Channel 6, the only reason to watch their newscasts leaves this month. Simone Wilkinson will leave WSYX for a spot at KUSA 9 in Denver. Ms. Wilkinson charmed many Central Ohio viewers with her Australian accent and lovely looks. No word on whether her replacement will come equiped with a foreign accent.

Check these websites: http://www.flytecomm.com http://www.flightaware.com Pair it with the scheduled departure/arrival times listed at this website: http://www.skybus.com For example, today was not a good day for Skybus... 3 flights cancelled today: SKB 240 CMH-SAN, SKB 241 SAN-CMH, and SKB 2 PSM-CMH. In order to rescue stranded people in PSM, they took the CEF-CMH flight, SKB 52, and routed it through PSM. That aircraft is supposed to do 4 more segements when it gets back to Columbus, CMH-MKE, MKE-CMH, CMH-PGJ, PGJ-CMH. Since Skybus has no spare aircraft, those flights are now posting 2 hour delays due to the unscheduled stop in PSM. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/SKB52 Yeah, I know, I have no life... :wink:

Development named 'Grandview Yard' Wednesday, December 19, 2007 3:49 PM By Martin Rozenman, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Grandview Yard. That’s the name of the commercial, retail and residential development planned for the old Big Bear site in Grandview Heights. The developer of the project, Nationwide Realty Investors, also developed the Arena District that includes offices, restaurants and entertainment venues, as well as residential units. Investment in the project is now $700 million, NRI President Brian Ellis said. “(Grandview Yard) will have significant similarities to the Arena District,” Ellis told members of the Columbus Metropolitan Club at their meeting at the Columbus Athletic Club yesterday afternoon. The development is estimated at $600 million to $650 million on 80 to 90 acres. It’s the sort of multi-use development Grandview Heights city officials want to see in the 100-acre site bordered by Goodale Boulevard on the south, 3rd Avenue on the north, railroad tracks on the east and an alley near Northwest Boulevard on the west. Read more at http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2007/12/19/grandview_yard.html

Broad, High billboards to go live Business First of Columbus The Times Square-like multimedia billboards at the corner of Broad and High streets in Columbus are ready for their own countdown. Developer Casto, Mayor Michael B. Coleman and billboard designer Orange Barrel Media are scheduled to light the downtown project at 5 p.m. Thursday. When the complex at the corner opens in early January, stock tickers and advertisements on the billboards will be a visual anchor for the $22 million retail, office and residential development. Full story at http://columbus.bizjournals.com/columbus/stories/2007/12/17/daily21.html?jst=b_ln_hl

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2007/12/18/skybus_loss.ART_ART_12-18-07_C10_8V8Q86U.html?sid=101

The airline industry has always been and will always be rooted in the service industry, therefore the analogy is perfectly valid and can help those that are ill-informed of the workings of the industry understand what it entails. For example, the roster of the nation's airlines can be perfectly aligned with what one would find in the retail sector: Midwest Airlines ---> Nordstrom: Provide a product that is a cut above the competition in their respective industry in select markets. American Airlines ---> Macy's: Provide a quality product that is available almost everywhere. Southwest Airlines ---> Wal*Mart: Strive for affordability while providing a product that meets customers' expectations. Skybus Airlines ---> Dollar Tree: Lowest common denominator. Your "quality standards" actually fit Skybus' mold quite well. They are frequently late, especially as their operations progress throughout the day. Their ability to provide a safe product, not through their pilots, but through flight attendants that are paid $9 and focus more on selling products to receive commission than on safety, is questionable. Lastly, Skybus frequently does drop people off at the wrong destination. Many of the airports to which Skybus flies have towers that close in the evening or have lesser minimums than other larger airports. For example, Portsmouth and Biloxi towers close at 11PM, so if there's a delay, you're not getting in. Bellingham and Richmond have more restrictions during inclement weather, which has caused Skybus flights to divert to Seattle/Boeing Field and Norfolk respectively, while larger airports continue to function. Joe Consumer needs to become familiar with a service industry mantra: "buyer beware."

A cool collage for Columbus could be: 1. The Horseshoe 2. The LeVeque 3. The Statehouse Other iconic images: Nationwide Arena The Short North Arches Schiller Park/German Village Goodale Park/Victorian Village Franklin Park Conservatory The Santa Maria COSI Mirror Lake and Oxley Hall The Wexner Center Buckeye Football Helmet Blue Jackets Goalie Mask Jack Nicklaus Jack Hanna Archie Griffin Woody Hayes

Meet Radio 106.7. http://www.radio1067.com

Sure some people did and still do. Southwest's spartan offerings (at the time) and lower fares can be partially to blame for the major carriers' degredation of inflight service. Some people within and outside the industry still resent Southwest's presence and their influence on the market. I've always considered Southwest to be "bad enough" as far as taking the industry down to its lowest common denominator. Then of course, we get the pleasure of having Skybus. While I resent Skybus for what it is and what it's doing, I do realize that for many, price is the most critical factor when choosing to fly. However, I don't think the Columbus market is big enough to support Skybus yet maintain a decent level of service for those willing to pay more for better, more convenient and reliable service from other carriers. My fear is that air travel market in Columbus will become the equivalent of the Columbus retail market being dominated by 99 Cent stores.

The funny thing is, if you look at the actual numbers, most airlines saw decreases in the number of passengers flown in October of this year compared to last year. If actual growth was occuring at CMH, we would be seeing increases across the board, not just from one subsidized carrier. And Dave isn't fooling anyone. Apparently, JetBlue, Delta, USAirways, United, Northwest, American, and Continental aren't "continuing to do well" out of Columbus. The continued downsizing by the aformentioned carriers could be very destructive to this city, and as long as a certain carrier continues to run amuck, it will continue to get worse.

http://www.port-columbus.com/news/press/release.asp?PID=270

I've never flown on them, and I never will. It looks like we'll have fewer choices to fly period come next year too: USAirways (East) will discontinue all mainline service to Columbus starting in January. USAirways will reduce PHL flying to 6 times daily service. JetBlue discontinues all service to CMH in January. Delta discontinues all service to LAX from CMH in January. Delta will reduce JFK flying to 3 times daily service. Yep, it's a good think we've got Skybust around...

Chalk up yet another discontinued route for CMH. While fuel was noted as a primary reason for discontinuing service, one not mentioned was the fact that Skybus siphoned away much of Delta's market share. What people fail to realize is that for a non-hub market like Columbus, flights to the West Coast can be difficult to make work, even if there is a large demand. Skybus came in and inflated the market with a glut of unreasonably priced seats, killing the market for Delta. Now, we have no business connection to Los Angeles, nor one-stop service to the majority of Hawaii, Asia and Australia. I've said over and over again that Skybus will end up killing the business market out of here, and it's already started. As mentioned in the article, Honda relied on Delta's nonstop to get executives not only to L.A., but to Asia as well. These people won't be setting foot on Skybus since it doesn't provide what businesses need to get the job done, nor are there any connections available out of Burbank. As I've said before, Skybus will eventually lead to the complete degredation of air service out of Columbus.

I'll miss the spanish language broadcast on 1580AM (RadioSol, as it was known), since La Equis 103.1 is purely Mexican music. While staying on the subject of Columbus radio, a completely new FM station is slated to take to the airwaves on Monday. Radio conglomerate Clear Channel recently shuffled their mid-Ohio stations around, resulting in one of them being moved to Columbus. The new station will air on 106.7. For those of you familiar with Columbus radio, the new station is rumored to be reminiscent of Channel Z which, if true, will make me very happy.

It's possible that Delta could call it quits in Columbus, but it really depends on whether the yields stick or not. One of the main reasons the focus city was started and expanded in the first places was because Delta was seeing some very good margins on routes from CMH. Hartford has actually been a very good route for Delta, since the traffic is mostly made up of high-paying business traffic. But if enough of that is leaked to Skybus out of Chicopee, Westover, or whatever you want to call it, then Delta might throw in the towel. As for why so many routes are flown by RJs, the biggest factor is the Chautauqua/Shuttle America maintenance and crew base in Columbus. Aircraft being sent to CMH for maintenance are sent in and out as revenue flights. It's the same reason you see Chautauqua flying as American Connection from here instead of Trans States, or Shuttle America flying CMH-DEN instead of Skywest. Delta Connection carrier Comair does fly some route from CMH, but by in large they are to other Comair domiciles, such as LGA and CVG. Lastly, no, I don't think Delta would have considered flying CMH-SFO/SEA. While over 100 people per day fly between Columbus and both cities, the demographics don't add up to make a nonstop on Delta viable. That someone is me. I'm "FlyCMH" on the airliners.net message boards. We were never told exactly where HP was planning on expanding from CMH, but it would've included doubling the amount of RJs dedicated to flying under the America West Express banner to 24. The rendering of the expanded Concourse B is still in the USAirways breakroom. Basically it would have created 6 more regional jet jetbridges stretching from B28 to B29 along the northern end of the "T", basically where United currently operates. UA would've moved to Concourse C, and B29 would've become another America West mainline gate. Not sure. All I know is that it has been discussed locally by several parties.

^Me thinks KOOW's comment was tongue-in-cheek. Though koowy, if you reeeally wanted to strike a chord, you would've spelt it Cinncinatti. ;-) Edited to correct KOOW's name...don't know what I was thinking!

The only carrier that can realistically make an attempt at eradicating Skybus is Southwest, since they're the only ones that can come close to pricing themselves at the same level as Skybus. Southwest has made the effort too through their online Ding! fares. Other carriers, such as American and Delta, will concede the market to Skybus if it gets to a point that even with their differentiated product, that they can't make the loads and yields work. The only way I can see them opening GYY is if the airport literally throws money at them in the eventual hope of gaining focus city status. The CMH-CHI market is already incredibly well served and is the lowest fare market from Columbus. Skybus initially said that they wanted to steer clear of competing directly with Southwest; it looks like things may have changed. Honestly, without Skybus, I think we'd have seen jetBlue flying between CMH and FLL. The South Florida market had been underserved for the longest time, and Skybus came in to capitalize on it. The problem with S. Florida is that it's a low yield and highly seasonal market from Columbus, which makes it tough for airlines to operate without some sort of hub traffic to continuously fill planes. The Skybus concept does work well in markets like this, but I think other carriers, such as Southwest and jetBlue, could provide a far superior product at a slightly higher fare. As I mentioned earlier, Columbus is now a pariah in the airline industry due to Skybus. AirTran could have been a possibility had CMH been given the opportunity to grow organically. But with the steroidal presence of Skybus placing a glut of insanely low seats in the market, no airline in their right mind would come here. Even worse, those that are here are thinking twice about their presence in the market, including Delta.

Part of the "problem" and one of the reasons that I don't participate in these forums like I used to is that no matter what you show or how much you try and inspire some appreciation of what is here, people will continue to compare to what they know instead of embracing the differences between the two. That and the fact that a lot of people just don't care.

Welcome, CMHLCK. Like you, my passion is and has always been aviation. Also like you, I have a keen interest in our local airports. I have tried to accumulate as much knowledge as possible regarding the airline industry. I hold a degree in Aviation Management from OSU and have worked for 3 different airlines at CMH as well as participate in several strictly aviation-related forums. Hopefully I can shed some insight into your questions and concerns. The record passenger numbers are certainly inspiring, especially since CMH was starting to break passenger records even before Skybus' arrival. I too would love to see work start on the new terminal building, however the CRAA has stated that they won't begin construction until the current facility handles roughly 10 million passengers a year. The airport has figured out that at that point, the current terminal cannot be added to or renovated effectively anymore, requiring the need for a new facility. The airport is on track to break the 7 million passenger mark for the first time by quite a bit this year. You can count me among those that are not happy about Skybus and its implications on the local market. First off, Skybus is not doing well by what I can see. If one checks their website and the fares available, you can see that markets like MCI, RIC, and CEF are barely cracking $55 in advance purchase fares for the month of November, minus the Thanksgiving travel period. October and much of September was the same way. The west coast routes are fuller, but with oil prices exponentially increasing, not to mention the costs associated with flying one plane that far on one route with the limited market that CMH provides is financial suicide. They've slightly figured that out with the cessation of BLI and SAN. They would be toast by now if not for all the financial incentives being provided by the airport, city and state, which irks me even more. If Skybus does "succeed" in the Columbus market, it will mean the overall degradation of air service from CMH. We've already seen a taste of it from jetBlue's decision to pull out, though there were additional factors involved in their decision. The fact of the matter is, no airline, not even Southwest, can afford to compete at the same fare level as Skybus. If it gets to the point that enough of the market is choosing Skybus and therefore eroding the market available to the rest of the carriers operating from CMH, they will pull out. Such a scenario would create havoc on the business market from CMH, which by in large does not consider Skybus a valid travel option for a multitude of reasons. I love CMH, but as long as Skybus is here, do not expect any new airlines or destinations. Actually, Southwest has been slowly expanding in CMH over the past year. The most recent expansion will occur in November, when 1 flight each is added to MDW, STL, and TPA, bringing the total number of daily nonstop flights operated by WN up to 29. Also this year they have added 2 additional nonstops to MCO and another to MDW, not to mention the addition of nonstops to PHL last year. While PIT has shot up on Southwest's to do list (most likely due to the complete pull down of USAirways' hub/focus city operations at PIT), I do think there is room to grow for WN at CMH. However, I think they will approach any expansion here far more cautiously due to Skybus. I agree that competition is needed between CMH and DEN. Though with Frontier in DAY, it will be much harder to attain low fare service from CMH, since a good portion of the local traffic is content with driving to DAY for the lower fares. Though United's monopoly on the route isn't all bad; in December the afternoon mainline flight to DEN is being upgraded to a 757. It's definitely great to see another local aviation aficionado here, and welcome aboard. Hopefully the happenings at CMH will continue to foster more discussion, preferably positive in nature, in the future.

I can make part of the meet. I have work from 4:15AM until 1:30PM, so I can probably arrive around 1:45-2:00PM.

Well, I can go into specifics now since one of the airlines I was alluding to is pulling out (re: jetBlue). Proposed new routes included FLL with jetBlue, and possibly other Florida destinations, but with Skybus' entrance, those no longer were viable options. New airlines that have decided not to come to Columbus include Allegiant Air, which would have been an excellent and stable operator out of LCK. Other airlines are scaling back operations, such as American, which will be down to just 3 mainline flights a day come December, a historically busy month over at CMH. I've said repeatedly before that Skybus will lead to the overall complete degredation of the Columbus air travel market, I just didn't think it would start so soon. The thing with Southwest is that they are very methodical with their route network, and for good reason. Transcons require dedicating an aircraft for nearly the entire day, Southwest or any airline for that matter, needs to make sure that not only the passengers, but the yields are there in order to make dedicating an aircraft to the route a viable course of action. The fact of the matter is, Columbus doesn't have the critical mass to support nonstops to San Diego, Seattle, or most other West Coast destinations by itself, as Skybus just found out. Los Angeles and San Fransicso are really the best we can expect without any kind of feeder traffic filtering through Columbus that a hub would provide. As far as Denver goes, I could see Southwest doing a nonstop from Columbus, since United has the market cornered and does charge a pretty penny to fly between the two cities. But I think the case with Southwest is that there are lower hanging fruit where they can allocate their resources.

The aircraft will be used to support the JFK overflying expansion, i.e BUF-RSW, RDU-FLL, ROC-MCO, etc.

I was out of the country when this was announced, but the writing was on the wall. The problems jetBlue faced in Columbus that ultimately led to their pullout were 3-fold: Congestion in JFK The chronic delays affected jetBlue's operations here from Day 1. The Valentine's Day shutdown was a huge detriment to their name, and couldn't have happened at a worse time for an airline trying to build a customer base in a new city. Competition The New York market had decent service from Columbus before jetBlue's arrival. I assume jetBlue believed there was untapped demand due to the absence of a low cost carrier, and that their fares and high customer service would increase demand in their favor. Obviously this didn't pan out. Skybus Despite what the Dispatch says, Skybus was a factor in jetBlue's decision to pull out of Columbus. As of late, jetBlue has been trying to lessen the focus of their delay-prone JFK operations by openning stations up to other large jetBlue cities, such as connecting Buffalo, Raliegh, and Richmond to Ft. Lauderdale and Boston nonstop, so to bypass JFK. With Skybus providing a glut of insanely low priced seats to Ft. Lauderdale and Boston (through Portsmouth), there was no place for jetBlue to expand to from CMH, making any effort to grow the market useless. Which again leads me to reiterate just how much of a cancer Skybus is on the local market. I have every reason to believe jetBlue would still be here and in a much larger form if Skybus hadn't reared its ugly head. This latest news only continues to fuel my loathing of the sardine can of the skies. If you enjoy true value for your money, you will avoid Skybus at all costs, and let this monster die.