Skybus eying CVG

[Headfake14]

the LAST thing we need is a start up right now while the rest of us are licking wounds and preventing more.

 

[Ty Webb]

Oh, Please . . . . start up again, so I can hear that bed-wetting Speedbird-Wannabe on the frequency again . . . the one that got his knickers all knotted up because he thought we blocked him on a pushback . . . I thought he was going to cry :crying: . . . it was sooo good. I get a little misty, just thinking about it. :laugh:

What a wanker. Hope he's selling shoes somewhere.

TW

 

[altscap]

Wow, TW. You must be really fun to have to sit next to for a 6hr. flight. I'm glad you have a job and have not yet had to resort to selling shoes yourself to feed your family.

 

[Flynfish]

Wow altsaps, were you thinking of that response for the last 2 months?

 

[ultrarunner]

Any person, bank, investment house, OEM, whomever, will likely never back this outfit. If they do, they deserve to loose it all.

Hey, I'm thinking we have WAY too much capacity right now. How about the DOT just saying NO! Now there's a novel idea.

 

[goodgig]

They might bankroll it. The money people already know the crews are fetching the water.

 

[spitfire1500]

Theres an old saying "You can't polish a horse turd!!"

 

[b707guy]

Horse turds can be pretty shiny when fresh! Thing is, if this horse turd ever sees the light of day, it'll get dull and dried out just as quick as a real one on a sunny August day.

A good friend interviewed at Skybus in early '07, thinking of being at the top of a seniority list of a successful startup (like the proverbial new-hire who got laughed at flying Falcons at a little known purple-hued express package company a few years back...), and I'm as glad for him as he is that he didn't get hired there.

 

[hockeypilot44]

I'm pretty sure that most of the Skybus pilots are at NetJets now. I think they were given preferential interviews.

 

[ozpilot]

Believe it or not, we had a few leave Netjets to go to Skybus. Go figure.

 

[Peanut gallery]

What would make you think that

They'd probably even find some knuckleheads that would put in applications to work there.

Barnum was right.

Lets see the worst job market for pilots since I can remember, some folks have been out long enough to be at the end of their unemployment benefits. I would have to say that any job potential no matter how bad will have thousands of apps within days. And then some knucklehead will get on these forums and say how morally corrupt some poor slob is that just would like to feed his family.:smash:

 

[Bugsmasher Plus]

The guy that is trying to start it up again was ousted before they started flying and thus had no help in their demise. He has offered recall rights to the furloughed pilots if it starts flying with in 3 years of shutting down. I got this info from a flt safety instructor that worked there.

The business plan was actually working, they didn't quite get to where they needed to be or tweak it enough to get over the hump. When the plan was initially put together, oil was at around $45 a barrel. They built the business plan to absorb as much as $95 a barrel. When oil went deep into 3 digits, the thin margin vanished and they couldn't secure financing to pull through from April until the summer.

In a different fuel market they probably could have pulled it off, but the cost of oil was the difference between staying in the air or grounding it. To think that they could get it working again with the fuel where it is today I think is a good possibility, especially in a crippled hub like CVG.

 

[Correcting]

So what's the plan when oil goes back to $100+ per barrel in a couple years?

 

[Bugsmasher Plus]

So what's the plan when oil goes back to $100+ per barrel in a couple years?

I can't imagine the same business model being used without an adjustment to account for that should they restart it. With everything the way it is, anybody that starts something right now and increases the amount of flying jobs out there would be good, but it's unlikely it's going to happen. CVG would be a great place to make it happen though.

 

[climbhappy]

the plan should be to have several hundred million dollars in hedge funds tied to subpirne mortgages.


if Spirit could make it as small as they are , then i guess that Skybus 2 could do it they got to 25 planes or more. most fleet costs analysis are based on 20 or more.

 

[hockeypilot44]

I will say I am personally glad that Skybus did not make it. I hate to see people lose their jobs, but I took Skybus' low pay as a personal attack on my pay and quality of life. I remember reading about the pilots having to bring their own water to work. I know the pilots were on the verge of unionizing, but I was still happy to see the lowest paid Airbus pilot jobs in history go away. It also shows that low labor costs do not make an airline succeesful just as SWA shows that high labor costs do not make an airline unsuccessful. Most of the ex-Skybus pilots were hired at NetJets anyhow so it worked out better for most of them anyhow.

 

[climbhappy]

hockey,

just a friendly comment or two. if you worked at home depot and down the street a small startup hardware store opened boasting all these great things , would you be offended? when i worked in manufacturing sales and a competitor tried to come whore my accounts away from me, we knew it was a matter of time. you can't sell at a loss for long. But their death sentence came from hyper oil prices.

if you search their traffic numbers at GSO, they actually were succeeding in segmenting an entirely new market that had no appreciable effect on the numbers from the scheds whose traffic remained steady.

the point is they were never a threat to you or anybody. the good thing about a dynamic economy is that IT usually sorts things out. then all us pundits can sit around and go "what if'

Skybus was never a problem for this ndustry, but an industry whose prices had dropped for a one way ticket over 20 years did affect how the legacies did business. that is why they , sans AA , all ended up in BK.

you have to change your business plan. i say you have to look at the big picture, not just a snapshot of a startup offering pay lower than any other for the seat.

i live near GS0, so I was close to the scene. we had a few guys go over there and are back at pace now.

i respect your opinion and I wonder what the next 10 years will bring in terms of regional consolidation, VLJs and light rail. merry xmas!